


You're back, Mari.

by otomerson



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Delusions, Denial, Depression, Eventual Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, M/M, OMORI Spoilers, Obsessive Behavior, Overprotective, Panic Attacks, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic yandere i guess, Selectively Mute Sunny (OMORI), THERE IS NO ROMANCE BETWEEN HERO AND SUNNY., THIS IS NOT SHIPPING HERO AND SUNNY., Trauma, Yandere, aubrey is pissed, basil is pissed, kel is a sweetheart but a dumbass, mari please come get your man
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:53:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29967351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otomerson/pseuds/otomerson
Summary: It was buildup from years of pushing everything down.Something was always itching at the back of his mind.Hero suppressed it–suppressed everything that reminded him of that day and her.But he's managing well!He's coping fine....Yet something feels wrong. It's as if something overwhelming–something that even he cannot fathom is looming near–and everything he has been bottling up until now is going to spill out uncontrollably....He comes home for the summer.He rushes to the old hangout spot after his mom told him his brother was there....That's when it all starts to go downhill.
Relationships: Aubrey & Basil & Hero & Kel & Sunny (OMORI), Aubrey/Kim (OMORI), Basil/Sunny (OMORI), Hero & Sunny (OMORI), Hero/Mari (OMORI), Kel/Sunny (OMORI)
Comments: 71
Kudos: 198





	1. Coming home and a Sleepover

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by these fan-arts (i'm viewing them as non–ship art since I'm pretty confident they aren't ship art):
> 
> https://twitter.com/bbackgam/status/1368944536592867333?s=20  
> https://twitter.com/spr0ut_m0le_/status/1368989122543587334?s=20
> 
> was originally going to make this a one-shot but I really overestimated myself in terms of self-control.  
> (reminder–this fic is not shipping Hero and Sunny. this is purely me unloading an insane AU)

Hero knew he wouldn’t have been able to keep it up. He knew. He knew he would break one day, and yet every time that thought surfaced he pushed it to the back of his mind. He had to push that… _itch_ aside, or else everything he had kept bottled up would flow out uncontrollably, drowning himself and those around him. It was for the best. It had to be.

But there was always _something._ _Something_ itched at the back of his mind and slowly chipped away at his rationality, little by little. It was easy to smother at first. Hero could overwhelm his mind with other things like–like schoolwork. It wasn’t a _bad_ coping skill, because it benefited his future! His parents always encouraged his hard work, and so he continued. He didn’t really mind that he had to give up cooking, because every time he tried to cook he could practically hear that soft voice whispering in his ear–

He was perfectly fine. So he would enjoy his summer visit back at home.

…Hero didn’t expect to come home to a quiet house. Asking about his brother, his mom quickly relayed the necessary information and before she could even finish, he ran. There was this strange feeling. No, it wasn’t anxiety, it was–it was something else. The feeling only grew when he stepped into the clearing hidden in _Faraway Park_ that he was so familiar with.

Hero ran past the cones and dried roots, seeing bright pink, and the bright orange his brother always wore. He heard shouting. Kel was shouting. Hero ran up to him, and Kel pulled at him and pointed to the water, exclaiming that Basil was in the lake. Before Kel could finish speaking Hero jumped in, opening his eyes and searching for the blond.

He noticed Basil pretty quickly and grabbed him, pulling him up and turning to see _…Sunny?_

Hero lifted Basil out of the water, and Kel quickly hoisted him up, ushering Hero to get Sunny too. Hero couldn’t even process the information as he dived down once more, clothes weighing him down. He saw him. _Sunny_. How long had it been? Was that really Sunny? He looked so…thin. Small. Almost malnourished.

Hero shook his head and grabbed onto that pale hand, lifting Sunny further up until he could safely wrap an arm around his chest. He pulled them both out of the water, and Kel helped him climb onto the dock. It ended up being easy since Sunny was light. Worryingly so.

Kel had Basil propped up, feeling his head for a fever. Hero looked down at Sunny, who he had gently rested on the grass. Hero took a few deep breaths, his brain moving too quickly to comprehend what was going on. He turned to Kel and motioned to bring Basil closer, wanting to check if the blond was okay.

Before Hero could ask about what had happened, or even gather his thoughts, he heard a sharp intake of breath. Hero turned to Sunny, whose eyes trembled, before slowly opening. Sunny stared blankly forward, and Hero’s breath caught in his throat. He smiled naturally, hiding the itching in the back of his mind. Sunny really looked like–

Sunny sat up, blinking slowly. He looked around a bit before focusing on Basil, minute changes to his expression showing his worry. Hero turned back to Basil and pulled him from Kel, checking him over. “Hmm…It looks like Basil’s breathing is steady…but we need to get him somewhere warm, quickly.”

“Yeah…he’s had a rough day. Let’s get him home as soon as possible.” Kel nodded, moving to help Sunny off of the ground. Hero picked Basil up and belatedly thanked his college roommate for making him go weight lifting as a ‘bonding exercise’.

“WAIT!” Hero froze, as did Kel and Sunny. “Where do you think you’re all going?” Aubrey stared forward with a scowl. Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes, though it seemed to be from frustration and not sadness. Surprisingly, Kel snapped back.

“That’s enough. Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble? C’mon, guys. We gotta go!” Aubrey grits her teeth at Kel’s words, but it wasn’t the time to unpack that. Hero rushed Basil back to his house, occasionally glancing behind himself. The itch was there, and that was strange in itself. He had buried all of… _that…_ a while ago. But, when he looked at Sunny, the itch was…different. He wasn’t really sure why but felt a strange premonition that it would become clear soon.

After reaching Basil’s house, talking to Polly, and settling Basil into his bed, Hero quickly comforted the two still following closely behind him, saying Basil would be fine. After leaving Basil to rest and going into the hallway, he was finally able to ask about what had happened.

Kel explained that Aubrey had pushed Basil into the lake. Hero furrowed his brows, expressing that it must be a sort of misunderstanding, but Kel was firm. Hero looked to Sunny for confirmation, but Sunny was looking at the ground, out of it.

“Aubrey…” Hero rubbed the back of his head, “what happened while I was gone? Maybe I should have never left.” Kel was quick to veto that train of thought, and Hero reluctantly pushed his own opinions aside for now.

When they left Basil’s house, Kel leaned toward Sunny. “You know, Sunny, you were pretty awesome back there…jumping into the lake to save Basil like that.” Hero’s eyes widened. He didn’t really think of _why_ Sunny was in the lake too. Wasn’t he afraid of drowning? “Even if Hero ended up saving the day, I think you deserve some recognition too. How about a high five?” Kel excitedly lifted his hand, looking down at the other boy. Sunny looked at the hand, and an expression of grief disappeared as soon as it formed. Sunny lifted up his hand and received the high five. Hero pushed away the itch.

After heading back home–with him once again glancing back at Sunny periodically–Hero was greeted by his frantic mother. After Hero placated her about her cold dinner, the three went and grabbed some food, bringing it to the kitchen to warm up. “Phew…Now that everything’s calmed down…We can finally relax a bit.” Hero smiled.

As the microwave hummed, Hero turned to Sunny, though directly looking at him made the itching worse, he endured it. “It’s so good to see you again, Sunny! It really has been way too long!” Sunny looked away from the microwave, blinking slowly. Hero pursed his lips slightly, finding the expression and demeanor to be very similar to a cat. “Oh, and it’s good to see you again too, Kel.” Hero nodded toward his brother.

Silence settled again, and Hero felt suffocated by it. “So, Sunny, I heard from mom that you’re moving away soon! That sounds so exciting!” Hero said the words earnestly, yet the moment they left his mouth a bitterness permeated. Sunny’s expression changed briefly again, but it was quickly brought back into a neutral state. Hero’s eyes narrowed slightly, picking up on it more clearly this time. That definitely wasn’t a look of excitement.

“Yeah, he is. Tomorrow’s gonna be his last day with us.” Kel, always the optimist, just seemed excited that Sunny was back in his vicinity. Hero had overheard his mom mentioning that Sunny had appeared yesterday too. But, besides that, it seems like Sunny hadn’t left his house since–

“Moving might seem kind of nerve–wracking now, but it really isn’t so bad once you get used to it.” Hero spoke, keeping his gaze on Sunny, waiting for any indication of what he was feeling. “I think it would be good for you, Sunny.” A barely perceptible flinch. A tiny twist of the lip. Hero stopped a frown from forming after noticing it. “You learn a lot moving to a new place, and it’s nice to have a fresh start!” It was much more noticeable this time. Sunny’s expression was definitely not right, no matter how much he tried to hide it. Hero’s smile wavered. “I’m a little sad to see you go, but it’ll be okay as long as we keep in touch.” The itch strengthened. Kel started to talk about the old times, and Hero added to the memories as well. Though, talking about the treehouse–

Suppress it.

“Looks like the food’s done! Let’s eat in the living room. We can continue chatting there!” Hero clapped his hands together. After moving to the living room, Kel mentioned Sunny had Basil’s photo album, tacking on that Aubrey had stolen it and probably kept some of the photos. Sunny pulled out the photo album, and almost like he had done it hundreds of times, laid it out on the ground between the three of them. It was pleasant to see all the photos again. Everyone was so cute and happy. But…

“H–Hey, Hero, what’s up? Are you okay?”

Hero stared down, slightly tense. The itch was strong. Something was trying to push to the front of his mind. Hero grimaced. “Yeah…i–it’s just that…well…” Hero trailed off. His heart was beating too fast. He glanced to the side and saw Sunny staring right back at him. It caught Hero off guard, and he quickly schooled his expression.

“Oh, yeah…Mari isn’t in any of these photos.” Kel frowned. Hero took a deep breath, pushing it back. What was he pushing back? At this point, he couldn’t even tell. There was too much. He had to ignore it. 

Hero sighed. “Still, this album really brings back some good memories. Things were a lot simpler when we were kids…haha…” Hero trailed off, glancing over the photos on the page. Sunny was holding up a violin in one of the photos, expression so similar to–“Sunny, I have a favor to ask.” Hero kept a smile. “Do you think you could let us see your house one more time before you leave?”

Kel agreed, saying it was a good idea. The issue was convincing their mom. She obviously wasn’t happy about it, and even when Hero was able to get her to reluctantly agree, it was bitter. So, Hero proposed getting some flowers for her. They went to _Fix–It_ , passing by the nostalgic _Hobbeez_ and _Gino’s_.

After reaching the cashier, Hero noticed that Sunny was pulling out money from his own pocket. “Oops! Before I forget…Sunny, here’s some money for my mom’s flowers.” Hero smiled at Sunny’s blank expression. “You didn’t think I would let you pay for it, didja?” Hero handed over a ten-dollar bill, not really thinking much of it. Sunny gently took it from him, staring down at it. He looked back up at Hero with an expression that seemed to say “ _Wow…”._ Hero wanted to laugh.

After paying they went back to the house, and Hero was able to patch it up with his mom. It was good that she was understanding, but the constant mentioning of Sunny’s move irked him. It was fine. Hero ignored it.

It was dark outside, and as Kel marveled at how long it had been since they had been over to Sunny’s house, Hero glanced at the “SOLD” sign. He shook his head and agreed with whatever Kel had been saying, opening the door and letting the other two in first.

The house really _was_ empty. And dark. Was the electricity out? Kel once again started recollecting the past, and Hero joined in. Kel mentioned being unable to see the treehouse, and Hero quickly glossed over it. The itch was pushed back.

Kel then had the idea of sleeping over. Hero liked the idea, and Kel quelled the worry about his mom being upset. After the agreement was made and everyone started heading towards Sunny’s room, Hero glanced to the side. “I wonder if the piano is still there. I’ll go on ahead and see!” As if something was compelling him, he went into the room.

After stepping in, he immediately froze. Hero’s hands shook by his sides, and his eyes were glued forward. “I’m fine.” Hero mumbled, forcing himself over to the piano bench and sitting down. He opened the piano and looked down at the keys, hands hovering over them. The keys were clean. It was weird. Why was he here? It’s stimulating.

He heard footsteps and looked behind him. Sunny and Kel had walked in. Hero smiled, “don’t judge me too hard. I haven’t practiced in a while.” And, like he was possessed, he played. He knew he was playing the piano, yet…it hurt. The back of his mind was hurting. It wasn’t just an itch this time–more like scratching.

“Show off…” Kel’s words snapped him out of it.

“Haha, I guess I still got it.” Hero hurriedly left the piano, approaching Sunny. “Hey, Sunny. That reminds me! Do you still play the violin?” Hero looked around for a bit, not paying attention to Sunny’s expression. “Oh…it’s not here. I guess you already packed it up.” Hero opened his mouth to say something else, to reminisce about something important, but it wouldn’t come out. Hero pulled back, glancing at the yawning Kel.

Kel urged everyone to sleep, and Hero agreed. After coming up with the idea to sleep in Sunny’s room, Kel rushed off for blankets, and Hero hurriedly followed. Before Sunny came up, they’d somehow managed to put together a bed fort. Hero almost laughed.

“Hey, Sunny! We built a bed fort! I hope you don’t mind.” Sunny just stared in response, which Kel took as acceptance.

“This was all Kel’s idea. I had nothing to do with it.” Hero added on when Sunny approached, tilting his head. Hero pursed his lips at Sunny’s slow blinking. Seriously. He’s like a cat.

“By the way, Hero…Sunny and I got you a gift!” Hero turned to Kel in surprise and received the book.

“It’s _Papa Chip’s Chip–Off–The–Old–Block Cookbook!_ Do you remember this?” Kel smiled brightly, pleased with his gift choice.

“Of course I do!” Hero subconsciously replied, “Man, I remember when I wanted to be a cook…It seems so silly now.” Hero allowed himself to recall the joy of cooking for others when something else tried to crawl out from the back of his mind. It itched.

“Hey, you were pretty good at it! And you can still be a cook, Hero!” Kel said it with so much sureness, even looking to Sunny briefly with that bright, confident look. Hero noted Sunny’s reaction. His expression was, well…he looked sad. Hero tensed.

“Ah…it’s okay. I don’t have time for that anymore.” Hero held the book in his hands, not knowing whether he wanted to throw it away or hold it close.

“But…you really like to cook, don’t you? And people have to eat, right? So like…why not?” Kel was so absurdly earnest about it, that Hero couldn’t even be annoyed by the naivete of the sentence.

“Haha…I don’t think it works that way, Kel–”

And he was interrupted by snoring. Wow. Hero just kind of stared for a second, amazed and dumbfounded by his brother's ability to pass out like that. “He’s such a fast sleeper…always been that way I guess.” Hero chuckled gently, turning to Sunny, who was sitting on the floor. “Thanks for letting us sleepover, Sunny.”

Hero thought maybe Sunny nodded, but that might be the trick of the light or his own imagination. Hero shifted in place, putting the book to the side. He turned back to Sunny. “I bet it’s been pretty hard in this empty house…especially…” Hero, although he wanted to look away, wanted to make sure he was receptive to Sunny’s nonvocal replies. It’s not as though Sunny was mute…no, he was just always the quiet type. But, this was different. Sunny hasn’t been making any noise at all. Hero frowned. The itch strengthened.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you more…” Hero tried to smile, but couldn’t hold it when looking at Sunny. Sunny’s eyes briefly narrowed and his eyebrows creased, lips quivering. Hero wanted to hug him.

“Everything feels so different now…” Hero tried to smile again, “but it seems like you’ve pretty much stayed the same.” Hero hoped his voice was steady. Sunny hunched into himself, just enough to be noticeable. “It’s kind of relieving, to be honest! Haha!” Hero finally managed to smile, but it trembled.

“It’s really nice to see you again.” Hero reached forward slowly, before pulling the hand back. It hurt. It hurt. It really hurt. The back of his mind was scratching at his conscience. An image was forming in his mind. Too familiar. It was painful. “A–Anyway!” Hero took in a shaky breath, “sorry for ranting. It’s getting late. I’ll probably head to sleep soon too. Goodnight, Sunny! I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

…Hm?

Hero saw it.

For a brief second, it was the clearest expression Sunny had made all day.

So clear, in fact, that when Sunny left to go to his own bed, Hero almost reached out to pull him back. But he didn’t. He suppressed it. He suppressed the urge, convincing himself that it wasn’t real, that it wasn’t what he saw. But the itch–that painful, scratching itch, gnawed at him. He closed his eyes, lying down next to Kel. But it lingered.

…afraid.

Sunny had looked afraid.

****

Hero woke up early in the morning before the sun had even risen. He felt drained–like he had a nightmare. Shaking his head, Hero got up and headed to the bathroom. After finishing his business and washing his hands, he heard a soft tune. He froze.

Hero opened the bathroom door only a bit, before looking down the stairs. Without thinking he rushed down, heading straight for the piano room. He stepped inside, only to see Sunny standing completely still, a bit away from the piano. No, standing still wasn’t right. His hands were shaking. Sunny whipped around to face Hero, wide eyes and tightly shut mouth visible in the darkness.

“Sorry for bursting in like that. I could’ve sworn I heard some music.” Hero smiled gently, watching Sunny carefully. There was a stretch of silence, but Hero couldn’t bring himself to move or speak. The scratching at the back of his mind kept intensifying. “You must miss–” Hero stopped.

No. Stop. Suppress it. Hero held his breath. Suppress it. It’s fine. It’s fine. Nothing was wrong. Everything was okay. “I–It’s been…hard for me, too.” Hero couldn’t stop the words coming out of his mouth. “I just…don’t understand why…” Hero stepped forward, seeing Sunny waver. “But…we should all still be happy…” Hero kept himself in place. He wasn’t even saying coherent sentences. Sunny was shaking. Hero didn’t know what to do.

He didn’t know what to say. He just wanted to…wanted to…

“You should really get some rest. Go upstairs. I’ll come join you in a bit.” Hero waited for Sunny to leave. Sunny needed to leave. Everything was wrong. It wasn’t working–suppressing wasn’t working right now. Sunny, still shaking, scurried out of the room. Hero stayed put for a few seconds, waiting until he knew Sunny left.

Hero stumbled toward the bench, sitting on it and holding himself up. He stared down at the piano keys, tears welling in his eyes. Thoughts were rushing past his own comprehension, and the tears in his eyes dropped without permission. Hero looked down at his own shaking hands, biting his lip.

It hurt. It hurt so much. The back of his mind was burning and it felt horrible. He wanted to let go. But what then? What was he even letting go of? He didn’t even understand _himself_ anymore, much less his emotions. And why was Sunny so…pitiful? No, not that. Sunny really did look like–he looked like–he…

“ _Oh…Mari…_ ” Hero held a hand over his mouth, but he couldn’t drown out the name once it was said. The last time he ever saw her…her sickeningly pale skin, her peaceful expression…surrounded by flowers…

Hero gripped at his hair. He can’t. Not now. Not after four years of succeeding in moving on. It was all coming back without permission. _Something_ was looming over his mind, as it had been all these years. It was more apparent now, especially once he saw Sunny.

…Sunny.

Four years without leaving the house. It made sense that he looked the way he did but it’s just…it’s just way too similar. And–And those expressions! Hero’s eyes wavered. Those weren’t expressions of somebody who was happy. Not that it’s expected for everyone to be happy all the time, no, but this was different. What would’ve happened if Kel hadn’t kept knocking on Sunny’s door? What would’ve happened if Sunny didn’t open it? Sunny looked _depressed_. Sunny looked _tired, hopeless._ Sunny didn’t even want to _move_ from what Hero had gathered. So why did Sunny only come out now? Was it his way of saying goodbye to his old life? Or–or–was he saying goodbye in a way that was–

Hero went rigid.

Would…would it…happen…again…?

Hero stumbled out of the piano seat, the piano looking horrific in the moment. Once the idea formed coherently in his mind he couldn’t erase it, couldn’t suppress it. No. This can’t be happening. Kel…Kel wasn’t somebody who would notice things like this. Basil was…Basil was preoccupied and Aubrey was–well, she seemed to have her own thing going on. If he hadn’t come back…if he actually decided to stay behind at college for a bit longer like he had originally planned…then…

Hero rushed out of the room and up the stairs, letting out a deep exhale when he saw Sunny safely tucked into his bed. Hero ran his hand through his hair, scratching at his scalp to hopefully suppress the burning feeling in his mind. He needed to do something. He needed to distract himself. He needed to stop thinking. He needed the sharp pains in his mind to disappear. There’s…there’s…

The book he had put aside caught his gaze.

…

Breakfast. Yes, everybody needed breakfast soon. He should…clean up the house too while he’s at it. Yes. Everything was fine. Ignore it.

…

 _Suppress it_.


	2. Familiar Flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so...uh...don't expect daily updates. im just on a roll currently. we'll see how long I keep it up.
> 
> besides that, enjoy?

“Goooooood morning, Sunny! Rise and shine!” Hero opened the door with a beam, seeing Sunny standing not too far away. Could’ve accidentally hit him with the door, Hero thought with a wince. “I noticed the To-Do List with the chores your mom gave you, so I finished them all! Hope you don’t mind!” Hero clapped his hands together. “Also, I made you breakfast. Come down and get it while it’s still warm…Kel’s already on his second plate!” He chuckled and then turned right back out of the room.

Hero heard the door open and close again once he was by the stairs. Against his better judgment, he sneaked a glance at Sunny. Sunny headed toward the bathroom, eyes…unfocused. Hero quickly turned away, rushing down the stairs and biting his lip hard. It wasn’t itching. It wasn’t itching.

After getting back into the kitchen, Hero watched Kel continue to inhale everything he had prepared and sighed fondly. He went back to the pan and started placing on more bacon for Sunny, figuring Kel wasn’t leaving anything for his friend.

“Top of the morning, Sunny!” Hero jumped a bit at Kel’s shout, having not heard Sunny even walk in. “You better…” Kel spoke with his mouth full, “start eating before I finish it all! I already ate most of the bacon though _…_ ” Kel mumbled the last part.

“Another plate of bacon, coming in hot!” Hero prepped the plate and placed it right next to where Kel’s plate was. Hero looked to Sunny and smiled.

“Oh, boy! All for me? Thanks a bunch, bro! Heh heh!” No, Hero wanted to say, that definitely wasn’t for you. Instead, he just shrugged at Sunny, who didn’t seem very interested in eating anyway. At that thought, Hero clenched his fists, looking down before anyone could see his expression. Stop it. It’s fine. Sunny’s just not hungry right now. It’s…it’s normal. It isn’t like it explains completely why Sunny looks so unhealthy. Ha…ha…

There was knocking. “Who could that be? I’ll go get the door.” Kel wiped his hands on his pants– _Kel, gross_ –and walked out of the kitchen. Before Hero could grab the plate and maybe try and convince Sunny to eat, there was a loud spitting sound. “IT’S YOU!”

“EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW! What is all this!? What the heck, Kel!?” Hero had a feeling Kel might have just done something unnecessary again. He walked out of the kitchen, hearing Sunny following behind him.

“Huh? What’s going on over there?” Hero glanced at Kel’s defensive stance. A girl sporting a side shave with, unfortunately, eggs in it, was grumbling and wiping at her head. It was Kim.

“Dangit, Kel…Now I have eggs all over me…” Kim patted her blue hoodie, grimacing.

“Well…I’m sorry, but…” Kel rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re the last person I’d expect to see here.” After Kel stopped emanating confusion, his whole body tensed. “What are you doing here anyway?”

Kim tapped her foot, grumbling under her breath. “I was just about to get to that!” After snapping, her expression calmed. She adjusted her glasses and glanced down, biting her lip. “It’s just…it’s Aubrey. She’s not answering her door…or her back door…or the rocks we’ve been throwing at her window.” She rocked back and forth. “She was really upset yesterday…I KNOW THIS IS YOUR FAULT SOMEHOW! Tell me what you did to her!” Hero winced at the sudden outburst. He also noticed Sunny hunching into himself. Was it the yelling? Did he not like yelling?

“We didn’t do anything! She’s the one with the problem!” Kel bit back. Sunny looked even tenser, and Hero frowned. He had to break this up.

“Hold on, Kel…” Hero walked up to his brother, putting a hand on his shoulder. “If Aubrey is that upset, we should at least try to do something to help. This is Aubrey we’re talking about. We’ve all known each other since we were kids!”

“You weren’t there when she pushed Basil into the lake. I told you…she’s different now! We shouldn’t bother with people like her!” Kel said, aggressively running his hand through his hair.

“It’s true that she’s changed, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still care about her. And even if she doesn’t show it, I’m sure Aubrey still cares about me, too. That’s just the kind of person she is.” Hero said all of this with a soft smile, but everything that came out of his mouth was…detached. From himself. It was weird. He…he did believe that, right?

“I don’t know about that…” Kel turned away.

“Today is our last chance to do this before Sunny leaves. There’s no way I can just let it end like this!” Hero didn’t really feel himself talking. He dearly cared about Aubrey, so of course, he would want to help everyone make up. So, why did he feel so bitter? Why did the last words he said feel like they had a double meaning? It’s…it’s probably nothing. It has to be nothing. There definitely wasn’t any itching in the back of his mind. It didn’t hurt at all. “W–We should at least try to talk to her!” Hero didn’t mean to stutter.

Kel looked to ponder on what Hero said, turning to the brunette, then to Sunny. “Well…me and Sunny can tag along…but you’re gonna have to be the one doing the talking. She listens to you the most…” Kel furrowed his brows, slightly frowning.

“Thanks, Kel.” Hero pat his shoulder, smiling. Hero then turned to Kim, who flushed and looked away. “Hey, Kim…thanks for asking us for help. I’m glad Aubrey has someone who really cares about her.” Hero winked, grinning when Kim shoved her hands into her pockets, embarrassed.

“H–Huh? Err…s–sure, whatever.” Kim started grumbling under her breath again, kicking at the floor with a deep blush.

“Why don’t you head out first? We’ll meet you there.” Hero decided to stop teasing her about Aubrey.

“O–Okay, then. S–See ya…” Kim awkwardly turned and left the house, closing the door a bit too hard behind herself. Hero sighed, turning to Kel, and then Sunny. Kel gave Hero a thumbs up. Hero left the house first, and the two followed behind him.

After leaving the house, Kel stopped. “Yo, Sunny. Thanks for letting us sleep over last night…and for spending your last few days with me. You’re a real friend. High five!” Hero watched his brother's antics with fondness, glad to see Kel genuinely excited. It was almost enough to keep him from looking at Sunny. But he still did. He saw Sunny’s expression completely crumble, before immediately returning to a neutral state. What…what’s with that? Sunny, what’s with that? Hero smiled shakily, walking ahead of the other two.

It hurt. Why did it keep hurting? Why couldn’t it go away? Why couldn’t he just ignore this? Why was it…why was it getting worse? Hero really didn’t want to think about it. But it was scratching at him. Itching.

They arrived at Aubrey’s, and the hooligans were loitering outside of her house. Hero ignored them and walked up to the door, making sure Kel and Sunny were still behind him. “Hello? Is anybody there?” Hero waited for a bit. He turned around to face the two. “Come to think of it…have we ever been inside of Aubrey’s house before?”

“I don’t think so. She always came over to play with us. I don’t remember hanging out at her house at all.” Kel tilted his head.

“Hello? Aubrey? Is anyone home?” Hero turned back to the door. Kel shouted the same thing from behind him. After standing for a bit, Hero tried turning the doorknob. “Oh! It looks like the door was open. Let’s go inside.” Hero went inside first, and almost completely stopped in his tracks.

This…wasn’t exactly what he expected. He turned to look at Kel and Sunny. Kel just seemed to be staring forward, waiting for Hero to continue leading them. On the other hand, Sunny was…incredibly uncomfortable. Or, at least, he looked it. Hero shuddered, making himself look only directly in front of himself, ignoring the copious amount of garbage and beer cans.

There was a ladder to the right of the hallway, and Hero figured it led to Aubrey’s room. Hero climbed up first and Sunny followed after. Hero noticed that Sunny wobbled every time he lifted himself. That’s…not ideal. Sunny was sixteen, he should be in his prime. Kel clambering up the ladder right after distracted Hero from his thoughts.

Hero approached Aubrey, standing a good enough distance away that she wouldn’t be uncomfortable. He glanced to the side to make sure Kel stood back and noticed Sunny’s eyes jittering. _Itch_. “Hey, Aubrey! How are you feeling?” Hero smiled, staring directly at her bright pink hair.

Aubrey jumped, whipping around with flushed cheeks and a scowl. “W–W–W–What the heck are you guys doing here!?” Aubrey grit her teeth, “GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM!” Tears pricked at the edges of her eyes, probably from anger. In Hero’s peripheral, he could see Sunny recoil and grip at his own sweater vest.

“We’re sorry for intruding…It’ll only take a bit. We just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Hero smiled softly, keeping a pacifying tone. Aubrey glared back in response before her eyes welled up again.

“I’m fine!”

“I’ve been hearing some things…but I just want to hear it from you. Can you tell me what happened yesterday?” Hero tilted his head and leaned down just a bit to be more on her level. It didn't really make much of a difference, though.

“…Nothing happened.” Aubrey looked at the floor.

“You pushed Basil into the lake! You know he can’t swim!” Kel burst out.

“I–I didn’t mean to do that…I just…meant to push him away…” Aubrey’s voice shook.

“HE COULD HAVE DROWNED!”

“I said it was an accident!” Aubrey said. As the argument continued, Hero took notice of Sunny’s glossy eyes and vacant expression. His lips were pressed into a thin line to prevent a frown, or perhaps a sound of panic. What…what’s with that expression, Sunny? Why do you look like that? “Look…I’m sorry, okay!?”

Aubrey approached Kel, scowling deeply. “You’re the one that keeps showing up and acting like you’re better than everyone!”

“Well…you’re the one going around bullying Basil and stealing his stuff!”

“Stop talking like you know anything about that! I keep telling you that it’s none of your business!” Hero was definitely listening to the conversation, but his eyes were locked onto Sunny. Although his expression was better than before, there was something very, very wrong in the way Sunny was hiding himself.

“But…it is my business.” Kel softened, “you…you and Basil…and everyone here…you were my best friends…” At Kel’s words, Aubrey looked ready to flare up again, and it was enough to finally draw Hero’s attention away from Sunny.

“Alright, alright…I see the problem here…this is just your typical Kel and Aubrey fight. Just make up, you two…you’ve done it so many times before!” Hero clapped his hands together, smiling.

Kel looked at Aubrey. Aubrey looked at Kel. It looked like both were waiting for the other to say something first. Hero meant to look around a bit, but his eyes were drawn to Aubrey’s desk.

…Oh?

Hero felt his body move forward against his will. His eyes fell onto the polaroids stuck to the board. “Hey…these are the missing photos of…” Hero harshly bit his lip, preventing the name from flowing out of his mouth. The itching and scratching at the back of his mind burned horribly. Thankfully he was facing the board and no one could see his face.

“They’re…they’re all I have left of her.”

“But you know it’s still not right of you to take them from Basil. These photos belonged to him.” Hero refused to turn around, still frantically pushing away all of his thoughts and schooling his expression.

“Well…it’s no use now. Even if we have these photos…I already threw the rest away. They must be long gone by now…”

“That’s not true, Aubrey. Sunny has them right here!”

“What? H–He does? But how? I could’ve sworn I threw them away in the trash. Unless…you and Sunny…” A pause. “Haha…you really dug through my trash for this thing?” Another pause. “That’s…kind of gross.”

Hero finally turned around, just in time to see Kel rubbing the back of his neck and chuckling awkwardly. “Aubrey…let’s put the photos back in the photo album. All these photos…they belong together in one place.” Hero said. His hands were shaking as he pulled the photos from the board, careful of the tape. Hiding his shaking hands, Hero approached Sunny. Sunny, still somewhat out of it, handed the photo album to him.

Hero placed the album on the ground between everyone. “Come on, guys. We should do this together.” And together they did.

It was silent as everyone adjusted the photos into their rightful places, and once again they flipped through it, reading to themselves each little passage Basil wrote. Hero’s eyes unfocused, and he only blankly stared at the blurry pages that flipped by. Something…something grew. Hero felt something try to push to the forefront of his mind, and the suppressed itch was now behind his eyes.

“There. Now everything is back where it should be!” Hero didn’t feel himself talking. “It looks like one photo is still missing…but at least the rest of them are back together!” Hero smiled, forcing his eyes to refocus when he looked at Aubrey and Kel. “Now…doesn’t that feel better?”

Kel sighed. “We really did have a lot of fun together, huh?”

“Yeah…I guess we really did.” Aubrey said softly. After a few moments of quiet, audibly sniffles could be heard. “I’m sorry, guys…I’ve been acting like such a jerk.”

“I’m sorry too, Aubrey…I really haven’t been treating you so great either.”

“Alright! Apologies accepted! Now we can all be friends again! Who wants a hug!?” Hero grinned, barely managing to push everything to the back of his mind again.

“Come on, Hero! Not now! You’re so embarrassing.” Kel groaned.

“I–I’m good…thanks.” Aubrey turned away, red. Hero chuckled at their shyness, purposefully avoiding looking at Sunny.

“All we need to do now is check up on Basil. I hope he’s feeling better today.” Hero turned to Aubrey. “Aubrey…knowing everything I heard from Kel…I’m sure you know you need to apologize to him.”

“Yeah…I know…” Aubrey grumbled.

“Thanks, Aubrey. It’s good to have you back. Now let’s get you out of this house!” Aubrey huffed, then agreed. Hero heard pages turning, and then a book closing. He stared ahead, going down the ladder first.

Once they got out of the house, Kim rushed forward. “Yo, Aubrey. Are you okay?” Kim looked at her up and down, checking for anything amiss.

“Hey, Kim…I’m good…thanks for bringing everyone here.” Kim smiled in response to Aubrey and turned around.

“HEY, GUYS! GUYS! AUBREY IS HERE!” All of the hooligans clamored around Aubrey, asking questions and accepting Aubrey’s apology. When asked to hang out, Aubrey turned them down, promising to hang out the next day. Although disappointed, they all were understanding.

“Don’t keep us waiting long!” Kim grinned.

“You know I won’t, Kim. I’ll be back before you know it.” Aubrey matched her grin's energy and then saw them off.

Hero waited for a bit, turning toward the direction of Basil’s house when…

“Sunny? Where are you going?” Kel’s confused voice made Hero halt. He turned around and saw Sunny’s back. Sunny was walking…in the wrong direction. “Sunny?” Kel chased after Sunny, and Aubrey looked at Hero. Hero shrugged, and they both followed after them.

Soon, it became apparent where Sunny was going. Hero blankly stared forward with a smile, mind completely silent.

Everyone followed silently behind Sunny as he went through the church, and out the back door. Hero’s heartrate increased the further they went. After reaching the destination, Sunny stopped. Kel and Aubrey silently watched.

Sunny reached into his pocket and pulled out…flowers. Sunny stood still with them, staring forward without a sound. Aubrey was the first to speak up.

“Hey, Mari…It’s me again. Sunny, Kel, and Hero are with me this time.”

“Do you visit Mari’s grave a lot, Aubrey?” Kel turned to her.

“Yeah…I try to, although some days it’s a little hard. You guys visit sometimes too…don’t you?” Aubrey frowned.

“Every now and then. But maybe I should have visited more often...” A pause. “Hey, Hero. How are you feeling?” Hero kept his gaze forward. Unfortunately, all that met his eyes were sentences on a grave. His brain was…empty. There was absolutely nothing. No itching, no thoughts…

“…I’m okay.” Kel and Aubrey were looking at him expectantly. Did…did they want him to talk? How…how was he supposed to do that? Hero walked toward the grave, eyes struggling to focus. If…if he spoke here…but he had to. This…this would be fine. Hero was over it. “Hey…I’m sorry I haven’t visited you yet. I was being selfish, I think…”

Hero put his hands in his pockets to hide the trembling. Why were they making him do this? Why are Kel and Aubrey making him talk? Why did…why did Sunny have to come here? “It’s been so long, but I still miss you more than ever.” Why…why did he follow Sunny? He needed to get out of here.

He’d done so well. He’d been doing great. Hero didn’t need to think about it. They should let his mind remain as it is. He didn’t need to remember. He didn’t need to think about anything. All he needed to do was forget.

“I’m…I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” Hero closed in on himself. His eyes were wide. Something was there. Something was directly in front of him. What is that? His whole head was pounding. He couldn’t think straight. Everything was falling apart. “I’m just…really sorry…” It was the flowers. The flowers were everywhere. They were everywhere…surrounding him just like they surrounded her. Somebody…somebody get him out of here. He can’t move. He…he can’t move. What…what’s going on? He wants to scream. He wants to cry. He wants to rip out his hair and fall to his knees and just–

“ _Hero._ ” A quiet, soft voice called out to him. Hero jolted. His eyes refocused, trained on the person that had walked in front of him. Sunny…Sunny was looking at him. Sunny had spoken to him, snapping him out of his spiral. Hero stared down at Sunny intently, the flowers in his vision floating around Sunny’s face, before fading away. Oh… _oh…_

“Hero…you don’t have to be so hard on yourself.” Aubrey’s voice was too jaded.

“Yeah…we’re here for you if you ever need us.” Kel’s voice was too upbeat.

Sunny was still looking up at him, barely visible concern shining in his dark eyes. Ah…his eyes were so familiar…comforting…

Hero blinked, shaking his head. He took in a deep breath and put on a confident smile, turning around to face Aubrey and Kel. “Thanks, guys…don’t worry about me too much, okay?” Hero heard something being placed down, turning around to find Sunny putting flowers by the gravestone.

Everyone stood together in silence for a little bit, only moving once Sunny turned around. Kel nodded, taking it as a queue to leave. Hero walked behind the group this time, trying to organize his scattered thoughts. Aubrey and Kel chatted a bit, but ended up bickering just like in the past. It was a good distraction.

Hero was the one to knock on Basil’s door when they arrived. Polly came out, closing the door behind her. “Hey, Polly! How’s Basil doing?” Hero plastered on his usual charming smile.

“Oh, hello everyone! I’m afraid Basil isn’t home right now. He’s…in the hospital.” Everyone except Sunny made sounds of surprise.

“What!? What happened?” Kel frantically asked.

“Oh, my apologies! Let me clarify…” Polly said. “Basil is in the hospital visiting his grandma…she was rushed to intensive care yesterday evening.”

“Oh, no…I’m really sorry to hear that.” Hero frowned.

“Do you know when he’ll be back?” Kel asked.

“I–I’m not exactly sure…maybe sometime in the afternoon. Sorry…” Polly looked down.

“Would you mind if we checked back here later? We’re all really worried about him.” Hero figured that’d be a good idea.

“I don’t mind at all. Please come by to visit. I think Basil would appreciate having some friends over. I’m happy to know that Basil has friends that care so much about him.” Polly smiled genuinely.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Friends…are supposed to be there for each other…right, Aubrey?” Kel looked at her.

“Y–Yeah…Sure…”

“Anyways, we’ll be back later. See you, Polly!” Kel waved cheerfully.

“Okay, see you!” Polly returned back into the house. Everyone turned to each other. Hero ran a hand through his hair.

“Well, I guess we have to wait until he gets back…is there anything you guys want to do until then?” Hero looked at the three.

“I’m okay just hanging out and doing whatever.” Aubrey shrugged.

“Then I vote to go to the treehouse! It’ll be fun, especially since Aubrey is with us now, too.” Kel waved his hands excitedly.

Aubrey tilted her head. “Our old treehouse, huh? I haven’t been there in so long…”

“Yeah, we haven’t yet either! We wanted to go see it yesterday, but it was too dark outside.” Kel smiled brightly, turning to Sunny. “What do you think? Can we head over there now?” Sunny blinked slowly, and Kel took that as agreement.

And so they went. Kel and Aubrey led the way, this time Sunny walking side by side with Hero. Hero stared forward, lips in a tight line. This was a bad idea. The treehouse…he didn’t know how much more he could take today. Everything was just too much. He preferred it when his mind only itched–because that itch, that scratching, was proof something was _trying_ to get out. Now that there wasn’t any feeling there…

Flowers drifted across his vision, transparent and fading as they flew past. Hero wanted to look at Sunny. He just…wanted to check.

…

“Alright, we’re here!” Kel opened the door to Sunny’s house with a flourish. “Ladies first!” Kel had a smug look on, which fell when Aubrey smacked the back of his head while going inside. Kel pouted, following behind her. Hero and Sunny walked in behind them.

Aubrey was looking around, walking back and forth. She then stopped. “When I see this empty house, it all feels so sudden. But for you…moving away must have been a long time coming.” Aubrey looked at Sunny. Sunny was looking back. “I hope you can find some peace out there…or you know…some happiness.” Something flickered in Sunny’s gaze–for a split second, Sunny looked like he was going to cry. Hero stared.

“There have been a lot of things that were unsaid these past few years…and painful memories that we kept to ourselves. But even through all that…I’m relieved that we were still able to become friends again. I’m happy that we’re all here...so that…” Hero stopped. He wanted to keep speaking, to be the one to lead the group and be responsible, as he always should be. But, he couldn’t. His eyes weren’t focusing again.

“It’s okay, Hero. I’ll go first.” Kel went to the sliding door, stood in front of it for a bit then opened it. He walked out. Shortly after, Aubrey followed.

Hero looked to the open sliding door and stood in a place. He took a deep breath, hands shaking. It’s…it’s outside. It’s going to be right there. He…he had to go. They were waiting for him to come and expected him to be there. But…but he doesn’t want to. Flowers danced at the edges of his vision. He’s going to have to see–

A hand tugged at his sleeve. Hero blinked a few times, clearing his clouding eyes. He turned to the side, seeing Sunny had grabbed his sleeve. Once again, two dark eyes looked at him with concern. Hero glanced at the small, weak hand on his sleeve. He smiled softly. “Let’s go.” Hero walked forward, still feeling a tug. Hero rose a brow, stopping when Sunny looked down. The hand holding his sleeve trembled. Hero frowned, not able to see Sunny’s face.

Sunny started walking, and Hero let himself be pulled. It was such a weak pull. They both faced the sliding door. Hero heard Sunny take a deep breath, and so he took one as well. And then they stepped out. Once they reached outside, Sunny let go. Hero followed as Sunny walked, noting how slowly Sunny was going.

Hero eventually had to look away, and face forward. He and Sunny stood slightly behind Aubrey and Kel, but they left a space in the middle–enough for him to have to see it.

“This is where Mari–” Kel closed his mouth. Hero clenched his fists, gaze unsteady. The stump was so unassuming. Anyone who saw it would think nothing of it. Hero wished he could view it like he was a stranger.

“It feels like forever ago…but I can still remember that day perfectly.” Aubrey was once again the first to speak in a time like this. Why…why were they talking about it? Couldn’t they just walk past here? _Shouldn’t_ they walk past here? He has already lost the ability to push these things to the back of his mind–because the wall that had blocked everything away was gone. As long as he took some time alone and rebuilt it, he wouldn’t have to worry about the flood of memories trying to come to the forefront. But now…the more time he spent reliving these moments…

“I remember that day too…I went out to get a haircut with my dad. Oh, yeah! You were there with your dad too, Aubrey! We were preparing for something, weren’t we?” Kel’s loud voice allowed Hero a moment of reprieve from his thoughts.

“Yeah, we were. We were going to watch Mari and Sunny’s music recital…” Aubrey glanced at Sunny. “It was supposed to be that night…but…when we came home in the evening…” She trailed off.

Everyone was looking at the stump.

“Even after all this time…I–I still don’t understand why she would do it.” Kel’s voice wavered.

“I…I don’t think any of us ever will.” Aubrey said.

Hero wanted to fall to his knees. He wanted to cry and cry until maybe, just maybe, he would feel the slightest bit of amnesty from the guilt clawing at him. He wanted to scream at Kel and Aubrey for making them come here, and making Hero face reality once more. He wanted to return to how he was before, in that year after everything happened and he locked himself away and ignored everyone and himself. Maybe, just like he did back then, he could briefly see her. See her smile. See her reaching out to him with a warm smile and open arms. On the days he starved–on the days he slept more than he was awake–on the days where he wanted to be neither asleep nor awake–that was always when he could see her. Because it was the closest he could ever be to her without making the commitment to join her.

Kel and Aubrey whispered behind him. “Hey, uh…we’re gonna go on ahead. Join us when…you’re ready.” Hero couldn’t see them, but he heard them push through the leaves up ahead, leaving him alone.

Hero’s shoulders shook. Tears welled in his eyes and he bit down on his lip to stop a sob from coming out. What is this? Why did he have to go through this? All he wanted was to mend relationships between old friends, and in that, he was forced to face the very thing he had made himself avoid. Flowers were everywhere. They covered the stump–they piled and piled up until he couldn’t see it any longer. Those pure, beautiful white flowers.

…why couldn’t he just be happy? When she left, she took everything he had with her. His motivation, his hopes, his dreams, his future…because she was all of those things to him. Without her, he has always been nothing. So…

 _Why did Mari have to leave him_? Hero held his chest, feeling it tighten. He was losing the ability to breathe. What is this? What is this!? He clawed at his shirt, hunching over to try and get himself to intake some air, but nothing came through. He can’t breathe. He–he was–he can’t breathe–he–

“ _Hero_?”

He froze, rigid. The tears uncontrollably falling from his eyes dripped onto the grass below. Two arms wrapped around him, slowly guiding him to the ground. Hero curled into himself, feeling a hand rubbing his back, and another gently moving his hair out of his face. It was silent comfort, but he could hear the sound of steady breathing and mimicked it. He copied the rhythm and soon was able to breathe again.

The flowers crowding his vision let up, just enough so that he could see the person comforting him. The flowers moved a bit more, revealing black hair, and then two, piercing black eyes. _Mari?_ Hero opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He blinked a few more times until finally, he could recognize who it was.

“S–Sunny?” Hero barely managed to get the words out. Instead of replying, Sunny continued to make gentle movements of comfort, eyes meeting his. Sunny’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears, full of worry. Hero tried to speak again, but Sunny shook his head.

After a little while of Hero staring at Sunny and the flowers floating around him, with Sunny giving silent comfort, Hero finally calmed down fully. Sunny stopped his movements, leaning back a bit and sitting still. Hero straightened out, taking a deep breath, and letting it out. “Sunny…I’m sorry for freaking out like that–”

Smack.

Hero rose a brow, startled. He looked at his arm, then back up. Sunny was glaring at him. “What?” Sunny made a face. “I’m sorry?”

Smack.

“O–Okay! I’m…not sorry?”

Sunny nodded. Hero wanted to laugh. And this time, he let himself. He laughed brightly, running a hand through his hair and glancing at Sunny’s annoyed expression. After a bit, Sunny's expression eased back into a neutral calm. Once Hero finished laughing, he let out a big sigh.

“They’re probably fighting again right now, huh?” Hero grinned. “We should probably catch up.” He stood up and watched Sunny follow. Before Hero could move forward, Sunny grabbed his sleeve. Hero looked down at Sunny and saw the concerned gaze. “It’s alright…I’m fine now. It’s…It’s better we leave here, anyways” Sunny searched his expression, and finally relented, letting go of Hero’s sleeve.

Hero smiled, and let Sunny lead the way to the treehouse. He could hear yelling from inside, and his eye twitched. Wow. The two walked toward the ladder, and Sunny went up first. Once again, Hero noticed how wobbly Sunny was.

Besides that…

Hero realized the flowers drifting across his vision and floating around Sunny weren’t dissipating like before. They just...were there, now. He…wasn’t really sure what to make of that.

…

So he ignored it.


	3. The Calm, and the Beginning of the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh...just realized how many "..." are in the dialogue in-game. it's a bit awkward, but it's fine. won't have to worry about it anymore after this chapter.
> 
> anyways. ha ha. here you go.

“Wow…this place has seen better days…but it looks like everything is right where we left it.” Hero glanced at the decrepit inside of the treehouse. Kel and Aubrey looked up at the same time from where they were standing.

“Oh, you finally came! And, yeah! All our old stuff is still here!” Kel grinned, walking around. “Look! Here’s our playing cards! I was the best at card games, wasn’t I, guys?” Nobody commented on that.

“Mr. Plantegg…oh, you’re so dirty…” Aubrey said fondly. Sunny looked at the stuffed plush with Aubrey. Hero looked to the left corner and smiled, walking over to the stack of books.

“Look at all these old books…so this is where all my cookbooks went!”

“Dah! I think I just stepped on a jack! Ah, man…such good times.” Kel squat right beside the jack he stepped on with a dopey smile.

Hero hummed in amusement, turning around and walking toward Aubrey and Sunny. He looked beside the plush. “Hmm…why did we have a toaster in here?” After thinking for a bit, Hero snapped his fingers. “I remember now! Kel brought this toaster in here! He said he wanted me to cook with it…Kel was such a weird kid…” Hero chuckled awkwardly, watching Aubrey dust off the stuffed toy. In looking to the side, he was also able to see Sunny pulling something off of the wall.

Hero leaned behind Aubrey, just enough to see a polaroid. Hero wanted to get a closer look, but the flowers were blocking his vision. He glanced up at Sunny’s face instead, expecting to see nostalgia. Instead, Sunny looked petrified, shoving something into his pocket. Hero frowned.

“Hey…look…Sunny found a photo of us.” Aubrey looked over Sunny’s shoulder. Kel rushed up to get close and see the picture as well, and Hero followed. “We all look…so happy…”

“Wasn’t there a photo missing from the photo album? That must be it!” Kel said.

“Hey, you’re right, Kel! Take out your photo album, Sunny. We should add it in!” Hero watched as Sunny went to open the photo album and place it on the ground, almost dropping the photo in the process. Because of that, just briefly, Hero was able to see the back of the picture. _Don’t forget it’s in the toy box._ Hero tilted his head, wanting to double-check, but flowers blocked it. Hero sighed inwardly, situating himself as everyone else did to look at the photo album together.

Sunny flipped through the pages and put the photo in its place. “There…now the photo album is complete again.” Aubrey said.

“You know…” Just like when they looked at the album before, Hero’s words came out without his permission. “This is probably the last time that we’ll all be together here in this treehouse. Now that the photo album is complete…we should look through it one last time.” Why did he say that? Did he mean it? Including the first time they opened the album, Hero hasn’t been able to see the photos at all, because his vision unfocused every time he tried to look. Now, instead of being unable to focus, flowers blocked out everything.

“Good idea, Hero! The photo album is already out, so we might as well…right, Sunny? Let’s start from the beginning.” And so they did. Aubrey got to be in charge of turning the pages because Kel almost ripped them from excitement. Hero tried blinking away the flowers and was somewhat successful. Though most of the faces were blocked out, at least he could see them somewhat.

But…maybe he shouldn’t have looked. The only faces he could see clearly were…were all of _her_. Hero frowned, feeling like his heart was going to burst. On the last page, he could see the final photo completely. _She_ was by the piano, and Sunny held up his violin. Both had matching expressions of concentration, but _she_ also wore a soft smile.

“…I miss her so much.” Hero bit his lip. He didn’t mean to say that.

“…I…” Aubrey clenched her hands, “I miss her too…”

Kel looked around frantically, face confused. “Hey…c’mon, guys! Why the long faces? Look at all of us back together again…Mari would be so happy for us!” Kel’s positive voice was almost too much to bear.

“Yeah, you’re right…she would be.” Hero sighed, knowing it to be completely true. “If only Basil could be here too.” At his words, Aubrey glanced around, before turning to the table on the side.

“Huh? Hey, Aubrey! What’s up?” Kel walked toward her. Instead of replying, Aubrey suddenly pushed past Hero, rushing out of the treehouse. Kel quickly followed, calling after her in alarm. Sunny grabbed the photo album from the ground, and Hero decided to go down the ladder first. He reached the ground, watching Sunny slightly struggle to do the same. But, Sunny managed, despite trembling at the exertion. Sunny…that can’t be good.

Pushing his thoughts aside, Hero rushed back out of the treehouse clearing with Sunny, seeing Kel and Aubrey by where the stump was again. Hero frowned instinctively but felt relieved the flowers still covered it. Everyone stood beside each other, until Aubrey walked forward, placing a pinwheel directly into where the stump would be.

“You know…after everyone drifted apart…I felt so alone.” Aubrey turned around to face them. “But now, I realize that I was the one who was pushing everyone away.” She glanced to the side. “In the few months after Mari died…everything changed so fast. Sunny and Basil became more closed off…Kel made a bunch of friends playing sports…and Hero always seemed to be busy studying. I was so angry at how life kept moving on. I felt like everyone abandoned me…and abandoned Mari too…”

Aubrey closed her eyes briefly. “But I couldn’t see that everyone was dealing with the pain in their own way.” Aubrey glanced at Sunny. “After Sunny stopped coming to school…I saw Basil sitting alone during lunch…so I asked him if he wanted to study together at his house…he seemed kind of uneasy about it at first…but after I begged him, he agreed.”

With a sigh, she turned to the right, facing away from everyone. “The walk there was really quiet…Basil wouldn’t even look at me. And when we got to his room, I tried to talk to him…but he said he had to go to the bathroom and ran off. That’s when I spotted his old photo album on his bookshelf. I just wanted to go through the photos, because…well…guess I just wanted to see everyone happy again.”

Aubrey turned fully away, facing the pinwheel. “But…when I opened it…” She whipped around to face everyone, “Basil had blacked out all the photographs with marker! I couldn’t believe it…the only face he didn’t block out was–” Her eyes flickered to Sunny, before she turned around again, pretending she hadn’t done so. “All of our memories together…it felt like he had destroyed them! I was so confused…and angry…I thought he was a nutcase.”

She looked back at everyone. “So…instead of trying to understand him… I stole his photo album and started calling him a _creep_ and things like that.” Her eyes kept looking to Sunny, probably subconsciously, as she drew them away every time she caught herself doing it. “And eventually…I wasn’t the only one calling him names.”

There was a pause. Aubrey’s eyes teared up, and she frowned deeply. “I feel like scum for that now. But, you know what? Ever since then, all I’ve been doing is trying to cut myself off from everyone. It’s kind of funny. What I’ve been doing is worse than what Basil did, yet I’m the one who was angry at him…” A lone tear dripped down her cheek, and she sniffled loudly. “I’m such an idiot.” She fell to her knees.

Kel and Hero looked at each other. Hero turned to walk forward, but not without noticing Sunny doing the opposite. Sunny was walking backward, eyes hollowed and mouth pursed into a wobbly frown. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong here. What was Hero missing? His mind was screaming, and to ignore it, he turned back to Aubrey.

“Hey…It’s okay, Aubrey. We’ve all made mistakes.” Hero only reached out to her with his words.

“At that time, I didn’t understand what was happening…I was afraid that I’d somehow make things worse…so I just decided to stay out of all of it.” Kel said. “I’m really sorry, Aubrey…and I’m sorry to you too, Sunny. I was a pretty crappy friend.” Kel turned to look back at Sunny, who was still distanced away, but had managed to school his expression into neutrality, preventing any possible concern.

“You were still pretty young then, Kel, but I’m the oldest…so I should have known to take care of everyone.” Hero meant what he said. He really did. It’s what he was supposed to have done. But, instead, he hadn’t been able to handle it. He…couldn’t handle anything. He hated everyone, and everything because that was what made her leave him. He blamed her parents. He blamed her friends, he blamed the world, and most of all…he blamed himself.

What else could he do? It was better to suppress it, and ignore it, just like he’s always done when bad things happen, and when his emotions turn negative. The one year he let himself feel things…was when everyone thought he was worthless. He stayed in bed, doing absolutely nothing, communicating with no one. Kel had to see him wither away. Kel had to see his own parents pay more attention to his pathetic brother than himself, and smiled anyways, just asking for Hero to get better. Everyone just wanted him to move on, to do something worthwhile with his life like–like becoming a doctor.

“I…I just…” Hero’s eyes watered. Why…why was he the worst? He’s the oldest. Hero should be comforting everyone else, but instead, everyone was comforting him.

“Ah…no, it’s fine. Everyone’s here now…so it’s okay.” Aubrey tried to smile but cried instead. “I don’t…” She hiccupped, “I don’t deserve friends like you.”

“Don’t be silly, Aubrey. Of course you do. During all this time, it’s pretty obvious that you still cared about us…” Hero forced a smile, “I mean…just look at the photos in the photo album. There’s no trace of any of the black marks you were talking about anywhere! You can see all our faces just fine! I don’t suppose they all just cleaned themselves, did they?”

Kel leaned down, facing her crouching form. “It alright, Aubrey…I promise from now on, I’ll always be there for you!”

Hero paused for a moment. “Yeah…I promise too…We should all be here for each other!” He said.

Aubrey stood up, brushing off her skirt. Hero glanced briefly to Sunny, who still remained a distance away. He thought about how to naturally bring him closer. “Hey, you know what? I think this is the perfect time for a big group hug.”

“GROUP HUG!?” Kel shouted without warning, eyes bright. “AWWW, YEAH! COUNT ME IN!”

“W–Wait just one second!” Aubrey waved her hands in front of herself, flustered.

“Ready or not, here we come!” Hero jogged to Sunny, going behind him and pushing him forward. He tried to be as gentle as possible, considering how weak Sunny was. Thankfully Sunny walked forward, albeit with slight resistance. Kel hugged Aubrey, and Hero did the same while keeping one arm around Sunny. Aubrey sniffled, but nobody commented on it. Kel was just smiling happily. Hero looked down at Sunny and saw his eyes were wide and mouth slightly open. Sunny blinked slowly, and Hero affirmed that indeed, Sunny was very much like a cat.

They broke the hug after a bit. “We should go see if Basil is back home. I need to apologize to him…and…I think right now…he’s probably the one that needs us the most.” Aubrey said. Everyone agreed, and once again they were off. Hero let out a sigh of relief when they were back out on the street, finally away from that hidden stump.

…

Hero knocked on Basil’s door and backed up. Polly came out, looking relieved when she saw them. “Oh…thank goodness you guys came back…”

“Is something wrong?” Hero frowned.

“Well…Basil is back home, but…he’s not talking to me.” Polly said.

“Oh no…is there anything we can do to help?”

“It’s a bit hard to say right now. When Basil came back, he went straight to his room and locked the door. I haven’t been able to get a word out of him since. Maybe he just needs some time alone…but…I don’t know…I’m just worried. Could you guys try to talk to him?” Polly held a hand to her cheek, eyes downcast.

“Of course! We’ll do whatever we can to help!” Kel smiled brightly.

“Thank you, everyone…feel free to come in whenever you’re ready.” Polly opened the door and went back into the house. After a moment of silence, Kel ran inside. Everyone followed behind him.

Once inside, Kel beelined to Basil’s room, stopping to look up at Polly, probably for permission of sorts. Polly looked at the four of them and smiled. “Basil has been all by himself recently, so I’m sure he’s lonely…it’s nice to know that Basil has friends who care so much about him.” Kel smiled at her in response.

Hero was the one who ended up knocking on Basil’s door. “Hi Basil, it’s Hero. I’m here with Kel, Aubrey, and Sunny. We’re all here to see you!” No response. “Is there anything we can do to help?” Silence. “We just wanted to let you know that we’re here. Let us know if you need anything, okay?” Hero backed away from the door.

Polly sighed. “Maybe he just needs some time to himself…I’m really sorry to bother you.” She bowed slightly.

“Don’t worry about it, Polly…we’ve all been there before. If I’ve learned anything these past few days…it’s that friends should be there for each other!” Kel said brightly.

Aubrey walked to the door. “Hey, Basil…this is Aubrey. I just wanted to say that…I’m sorry for the way I’ve been treating you. Will you please say something? We just want to know that you’re okay.” Aubrey faced the door for a few more seconds, before stepping back. “I think we should stay here for him.

“Yeah…last time we all made the mistake of leaving each other when we needed each other the most. This time…we’ll stay together.” Hero looked down, blinking away the flowers. “Polly…” He turned to her. “Do you think we can sleep here for the night?”

“Oh…you are all so kind…of course you can stay over! I think Basil would really appreciate that…I know it would mean a lot to him.” Polly’s eyes teared up briefly, a soft, thankful smile on her face.

“AWESOME! I CALL THE COUCH!” Kel shouted without warning. He had a habit of doing that.

“Ah, this is all happening so fast! Okay, then. Since Kel wants the couch, everyone else can have a quilt! We have a lot of those. I’ll go grab them now.” Polly walked away, humming quietly.

Aubrey walked up to Kel and huffed. “Why do _you_ get the couch?”

“Well, duh! It’s because I called it first!” In response to Kel’s smug reply, Aubrey hit him across the head. “Ow, that hurt!” Kel pouted, then rushed out of the hallway. Aubrey stomped after him. Hero looked at Sunny, whose eyes were clouded over–vacant. Hero frowned, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. Sunny flinched, whipping his head up in fear, before realizing it was Hero and relaxing.

“Basil…Basil is going to be okay.” Hero said softly, guiding Sunny out of the hallway. Once they were back in the living room area, he let go, although reluctantly. Aubrey was sitting victoriously on the couch, while Kel was sprawled out on the floor. Hero rose a brow. Looks like Aubrey won.

The rest of the late afternoon was spent watching T.V and eating snacks. Hero was relieved since it allowed him a reprieve and mindless distraction from the day he’s had. He would still periodically check up on Sunny but found him just as focused on the T.V screen. It looked like Sunny still wasn’t eating anything, though.

At some point, Polly brought in the quilts and pillows. Everyone quickly claimed their own and got situated on the floor–except for Aubrey, who got the couch. Soon after, the lights were turned off, with only the flickering of the T.V illuminating the room.

“Hey, Sunny…I hope you know that even after you move, we’re still going to be friends!” Kel said, grinning.

“That’s so cheesy, Kel.” Aubrey groaned.

“Hey! I’m just saying what I’m thinking!” Kel grabbed his pillow, before putting it down, probably deciding it was better not to throw it at Aubrey. “Well…I know you’re a softie too, Aubrey!” Kel used his words to aggravate her instead.

“W–WHAT DID YOU SAY!?” Aubrey picked up her pillow, and also put it back down, following in Kel’s footsteps. Hero smiled at their antics.

“Haha…it’s nice to hang out like this again. I’ve been so busy with school and studying. I don’t really have time to make friends anymore.” Hero looked down at his hands. He worded it like he _wasn’t_ doing it on purpose.

“Well…you’ll always have us…I guess.” Aubrey ended her sentence with a mumble.

“See…I was right! Look who’s the softie now!” Kel said. This time, Aubrey just huffed in response. “But, yeah…it’s true. I know we’ll always be there for each other. Just like I know that Mari’s still here with us too.”

Hero’s eyes clouded with flowers, and he glanced to his right. He was surprised when he found Sunny already looking back. Hero opened his mouth, then closed it. The flowers floated around Sunny’s head, some landing in his hair.

A loud yawn interrupted his thoughts. “Man…I’m getting sleepy.” Right after Kel spoke, snoring echoed.

“What the…is he asleep already!?” Aubrey’s words were met with more snoring.

“Yup, that’s Kel for you…that part of him hasn’t changed a bit.” Hero looked away from Kel, and right back to Sunny. “Hey Sunny…thank you for everything. It’s probably been tough to leave your house after all this time…but I really appreciate you doing it for us.” Hero smiled softly until the next sentence left his own mouth. “I hope you’re not too worried about moving to a new place…if anything, you got us!” Why did he say that? He meant it, but he didn’t want to say it out loud. The sheer number of flowers was alarming. “Life gets better. You just have to stay positive.” In what way does Hero live by that philosophy?

“Hmm…life gets better, huh…” Aubrey shifted in place. “Hey, Sunny…after you move away…you should like…maybe come visit once in a while or something.” She said. Hero hugged his knees to his chest.

“Yeah! Then, we can all go out for some sandwiches! Or maybe we can all go to the park…or the beach…or just sit at home and watch T.V…who knows? We can do anything!” Hero said. He bit his lip, eyes wavering. He…he wanted to do that now. He…didn’t really want Sunny to move. And, looking into those sad eyes, Hero figured that Sunny felt the same way.

“Heh…that sounds kinda nice. Do you think my new friends can come too?” Aubrey played with her hair, glancing away.

“Of course they can, Aubrey! You don’t have to ask! The more the merrier, after all.” Hero looked over at her, matching her smile.

Kel’s loud snoring briefly broke. “Come on, guys…it’s time to sleep already…”

“Hehe…yeah, yeah…” Aubrey laid down. “G’night, guys…”

“Good night, Kel. Good night, Aubrey. Good night, Sunny. See you all in the morning.” Hero laid down too, looking over at Sunny, who also got comfortable. Hero meant to stay up, to maybe talk to Sunny, to figure out what exactly those flowers meant, and the source of his ever-increasing dread. But, instead, he fell asleep, most likely due to the emotional roller-coaster he was on throughout the day.

Later, looking back…

Hero really wished he hadn’t slept.

****

Hero’s eyes shot open.

He turned to the side and saw that Sunny wasn’t there. His sleepy mind panicked, and he scrambled out of bed, rushing into the hallway. He slammed open the bathroom door and saw nobody, only his own frantic expression reflected back at him. All of a sudden, a loud thud echoed through the bathroom wall.

Hero turned, eyes wide. He quickly left the bathroom, grabbing Basil’s doorknob. And, without thinking, he opened it.

…

Hero made eye contact with Basil. Basil, who was hovering over Sunny with garden shears in his hand. Looking down, Hero could see Sunny’s face…covered in blood. There was…so much blood. Before Hero could react, Basil fell down beside Sunny, one hand still gripping the other’s arm.

Ha…ha…

…

This…is a nightmare, right?

Hero’s mouth pulled into a smile.

Yeah…this was a nightmare. So…he wanted to wake up now. He pinched his arm.

…

He pinched harder.

…

“Ha…ha…”

…

Hero blinked a couple of times. The sight before him wasn’t going away. The white flowers that had been kindly hiding away the things that made him uneasy weren’t hiding anything now. They merely drifted around the offending scene.

…

Hero dropped to his knees beside Sunny, gently holding the other’s face and lifting it up, trying to see if perhaps it was just a shallow wound that bled excessively.

…no. It’s wasn’t a small wound.

His…his right eye was…

“Haha…this…” Hero looked over at Basil, who was also beaten up, but…the only blood on _him_ was Sunny’s. “This…this is…” Hero pulled Sunny into his arms, ignoring how limp the boy was. His shaking fingers checked Sunny’s pulse and felt a faint beating.

“Somebody…” Hero held Sunny closer to himself, ripping off a part of his own shirt and pressing it to Sunny’s eye wound. “Somebody…SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!” Hero yelled as loudly as possible, hearing a thud and a groan from far away. “PLEASE! SOMEBODY!” Hero yelled a second time. Loud footsteps could be heard. After a few moments, Hero looked up and make eye contact with a sleepy Kel.

After a gasp of horror, Kel scrambled to grab a phone and ended up rushing for the home phone in his panic, screaming for Polly and Aubrey to wake up. Hero’s eyes returned to Sunny, and his arms shook as he tried to pull him even closer. Tears gathered in his eyes, and he bit his lip to prevent a loud sob. “Sunny…Sunny…what’s with that…? Why…why is this happening? I…I don’t…I don’t understand…” Hero’s gaze fell on Basil, but he could barely see through his own tears.

A woman’s gasp could be heard, and Hero figured it was Polly who was now checking over Basil. “He…he…” Hero murmured, meeting Polly’s worried gaze. “He… _he_ did this…” Hero drew farther away, pulling Sunny with him as if putting distance between them would fix what had already been done. Polly looked down at Basil, then at the bloody garden shears in his hand. Her eyes directly met Hero’s before they fell on Sunny.

Hero noticed her staring and hid Sunny, still keeping pressure on his eye while hugging him close. Hero glared at the woman in front of him, gritting his teeth as he failed to hide a sob. Polly quickly looked away, turning her back to Hero.

…the flowers returned.

They were few, and they floated so gently. The flowers took their place resting around Sunny’s face, before drifting to his left. They hovered right above Sunny, and soon, some of the flowers gathered, forming a transparent image.

“ _M_ … _Mari_ …?” Hero saw her. He saw her closed eyes, with a face exactly like how he saw her last, those flowers surrounding her just as they did then. Her transparent form reached out a hand and rested it on Sunny’s face, a tear trickling down her cheek. “I’m…I’m _sorry_ …” Hero said, knowing he could’ve prevented this. She…she was so sad. And...and of course, she would be! Sunny...Sunny meant the world to her. _Mari’s_ closed eyes met his gaze, and she gave him a sad smile.

_Hero…_

His lips quivered.

_Please…please protect him…_

_Mari_ pulled some of the flowers from around her and placed them on Sunny.

_He’s all that is left of me…_

Hero couldn’t feel the hands holding his cheeks, but he didn’t care. Because he could see _Mari_ , and she could see him, even if her eyes were closed.

_Hero…_

He nodded, raptly focused.

_You could’ve saved me…but you didn’t._

Hero sobbed, nodding again.

_I’ll forgive you…only if you don’t make the same mistake._

He bit his lip, feeling blood trickle down his chin.

_You want me to forgive you, right?_

Hero nodded once more, frantically.

_Then, don’t leave him alone, or else…he will leave…just like I did. And it’ll be all your fault again._

Hero watched her smile as she dissipated back into flowers.

_I love you, Hero._

And then, she was gone, with the flowers that made her form floating down, falling and staying around Sunny.

Hero heard sirens.

He kept his gaze on Sunny, glancing at the scratches littered across his body, and the small rips in his clothes. “Sunny…it’s going to be okay…” Hero heard the paramedics coming through the front door, and gently brushed some of the hair from Sunny’s forehead.

“Sunny…”

Tears fell from his cheeks, falling onto Sunny’s face.

“ _Everything is going to be okay_ …”

Hero would make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me when the manifestation of my trauma tells me it loves me: 😍


	4. The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow i'm writing a lot. was just super excited.  
> decided to keep the "..." type of dialogue just for consistency's sake.
> 
> ...almost teared because I started listening to omori's boss theme at a certain point...  
> ...  
> enjoy ;;;;;;;;

“Hero…” Aubrey spoke from a distance away. Hero, as he had been for possibly hours, continued to focus on Sunny who laid on the bed hospital, a bandage wrapped around his head and over the patch on his right eye. A soft sigh rang out, and footsteps drew near. “Basil…Basil woke up.”

Hero finally looked away from Sunny, shifting in his hospital chair. His back somewhat ached from the cheap support.

“He…” Aubrey tapped her foot, moving her head back and forth. “He said he has something important to tell us…something that Sunny would want us to know, too. He’ll also give an explanation for…what he did.”

Hero met her eyes. She held his eye contact, pursing her lips. Hero didn’t look away, and Aubrey seemed more and more uncomfortable the longer he stared. At some point, she groaned, ruffling her hair aggressively.

“Look, I–I’m angry too. So…so that’s why hearing what happened is important. I trust him to at least…tell the truth. And, Sunny wouldn’t want to talk about it anyways…” Aubrey seemed determined to get him to come. Hero opened his mouth, then closed it. He glanced at Sunny again, looking at the flowers nestled around him. After releasing a big sigh, Hero stood up.

“You’re…you’re right.” Hero grit his teeth, feeling his chest tighten as he walked away from where Sunny lay. “We should hear him out.” The occasional flickering of the florescent lighting almost reflected the instability of his fake calm. Aubrey gave him a nod, and after glancing at Sunny, she walked out of the room.

Hero clenched his hands to prevent them from trembling at his sides. He almost broke his lip again biting it. It’s...it’s fine. The doctors were clear that Sunny would be asleep for quite a while due to the injuries, and also his malnutrition. With a deep frown, Hero reluctantly turned to leave the room, and a few of the flowers followed him as he left.

The hallways were too silent. It was uncomfortable. At least Aubrey’s footsteps gave him a rhythmic sound to pay attention to, to distract from the anxiety in his chest. He wanted to go back to Sunny.

“Will you…will you be able to listen?” Before entering, Aubrey held the doorknob and looked back at him, searching his gaze. Hero softened his eyes, hopefully enough to convince her he wasn’t as mad as he truly was deep down.

“Of course.” Hero smiled. Aubrey sighed but nodded. She opened the door and both of them stepped inside.

On the other side of the room was Basil, who had a black eye and a few other bruises distorting his features. Hero’s mouth twitched. Those wounds were just from Sunny trying to esca–Hero looked down quickly, biting the inside of his mouth.

“Hero…” Kel called out to him, eyes shining with worry. Hero met those concerned eyes and began walking forward. He stayed a bit away, just so Basil was out of his reach. Aubrey went and stood to the left of Basil since Kel was already on the right. “Alright, we’re all here now, so…please explain what happened.” Kel gave a weak smile, obviously fully trusting there was some sort of misunderstanding, just as they had established when Aubrey pushed Basil into the lake.

Basil looked to each of them one by one, eyes wavering. He then took in a deep breath, either to calm himself or to gather the courage to speak. “It’s…it’s a long story…so…can you all just…” Basil clutched the hospital blanket, “I need to say everything at once. So please…just listen until the end, and then cast your judgments.”

Hero frowned but nodded. Everyone else did the same. Basil took one last shaky breath, looking as if the world was collapsing onto his shoulders. Then, he spoke with more resolution than Hero had ever heard in his voice.

“Four years ago…I made a mistake.” Collectively, they realized that what Basil was about to talk about was something much more than what happened last night. “It was something I did because I wanted to protect my best friend. I…I wanted Sunny to stay by my side, and I thought if I didn’t do it, he would have to leave me.” Basil stopped clutching the blanket in his hands.

“On the night of the recital, four years ago, I went to Sunny’s house. I just wanted to see him and cheer him on…maybe give him some confidence for the performance later that night.” Basil smiled to himself, tears already gathering in his eyes. “But when I opened the door and walked into the hallway…I saw Sunny throw his violin down the stairs. I saw that he was crying.”

“And…and Mari yelled. Because…because he broke the violin everyone had worked so hard to get him…” Tears started falling from Basil’s cheeks. “She was…she was angrier than I’ve ever seen her, maybe…maybe she was stressed about the recital too. But Sunny…Sunny wasn’t used to her yelling. So, he…he was scared. He…he tried to run away…”

Basil’s eyes darted around, and his chest was moving rapidly. He took deep breaths to forcefully calm himself, that resolve in his eyes wavering. “When he tried to run down the stairs…Mari…Mari jumped in front of him.” Basil held his head, eyes wobbling. “Sunny…Sunny was scared…I know he was…he just wanted to run away…run to me, his best friend…” Basil gripped his hair. “So…so when she jumped in front of him without warning…he reacted instinctively. He…”

Basil’s eyes hollowed, before regaining their light. He sobbed, collapsing onto himself. “He…he pushed her.” Basil covered his eyes. “And…and she fell. Mari…Mari fell to the bottom, right onto his violin. Right…right in front of me.”

“I…I remember Sunny coming down the stairs, looking at me. We…we brought her to his room and laid her on her bed. Sunny waited for her to wake up. But she didn’t. Sunny’s eyes were so hollow…he looked like he wasn’t even there. I–I honestly don’t think he was lucid at this point.”

“So I…I did what I thought would help him. I told him I would save him, that it was all going to be okay. And…and I know for sure at this point Sunny wasn’t aware of what was going on.” Basil’s voice cracked, a self-deprecating smile spreading across his face. “By the time he came back to reality, I had already...I had already tied the knot. I had already ruined everything. And Sunny…he just stared at her, stared at her h–hanging from that tree…and I told him that _everything was going to be okay._ ”

Basil’s smile grew desperate. “I know it was an accident! I–I didn’t want anyone to think it was his fault because–because he would never do something like that!” His eyes were wide, unseeing. “Sunny loved her. And…Sunny trusted me, even when he wasn’t really present. I…I did everything. He…he only made a mistake, and I made it into something _horrible_ and _twisted._ I made him live for _four years with this guilt._ His parents found out–because wounds like that don’t come from…don’t come from _that_.”

Basil pulled at his hair. “They thought it was _his_ idea to hide it. So…so…his dad…blamed him. He left the family. His…his mom at least didn’t abandon him, playing along with the lie for her son...but…she never stayed in the house long. I know she didn’t. Sunny was left to rot away for–for four years, and I never had the courage to go to him–because I knew it was all my fault. He…he only made a mistake. I…I…what…” Almost as if the realization set in that he had said all of this, that the truth was finally out, Basil look around at everyone.

Aubrey merely stared at him, expression completely blank.

Kel was looking at the ground, holding a hand over his mouth, and refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.

Hero…

Hero stared down at Basil. “This…” His voice cracked harshly.

“I…I can’t hide it any longer. Last night…if Sunny hadn’t come into the room to save me I…” Basil’s eyes jittered, tears still flowing uncontrollably. “I couldn’t handle it. He…he’s moving away…and I couldn’t accept that.” Basil frowned pitifully. “Whenever I looked at him…looked at his right eye…I only saw Mari. I saw the eye that stared back at me after what I had done. I thought if I got rid of that–that _thing_ , that _something_ staring back at me, that I could save him. That I could save us both. Sunny…Sunny was so scared.”

“He…he tried to run away but he’s so weak and…and I…I just…” Basil sobbed, almost wailing at this point. “I just wanted this all to _end._ I just wanted to be free from that _guilt._ To have Sunny come back to me…to have him smile at me again… _to have him love me again_...” Basil continued to sob loudly, hiccupping and trying to wipe away the tears that just kept flowing without stop. “I’m sorry… _I’m so sorry…_ ”

Aubrey fell to her knees. Kel rushed to her side, though his own haunted eyes and shaking hands were unable to provide much comfort. Hero…Hero continued to stare at the blond. He stared and stared until everything clicked in his mind.

All of Sunny’s reactions…all of his flinching…all of his fear…all of his sadness…and all of his guilt. Everything made sense now.

…

But…

Wait a moment…

“Basil…” Hero’s eyes widened, mouth pulled into a fearful grimace, “..what do you mean by _saving_ you?”

“You can probably guess, but….” Basil gave an ugly laugh. “…those garden shears were originally meant for _me._ ”

Hero digested those words.

…

Flowers started clouding his vision.

…

“Sunny…Sunny probably…” Hero looked at Basil anxiously, voice almost hysterical. “Wouldn’t he…wouldn’t he feel even worse than you? Since he doesn’t know how you feel about the event. He probably thinks you hate him, considering what you did…”

Basil stared back, expression blank. There was confusion, but after a few more moments of blank staring, his expression contorted into horror. “Oh… _oh…_ ”

Hero turned tail and ran.

He rushed out of the room and through the hallways, bursting into Sunny’s hospital room. His anxiety was probably unfounded as the doctor’s said Sunny wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon, but–

...

Sunny was gone.

There was only a pile of flowers on the bed.

Hero’s hands shook by his sides. He turned back out of the room and ran down the hallway, looking around frantically. He tried to figure out where Sunny would have gone, but all the thoughts in his mind kept spiraling into nonsense.

Think…where would Sunny go? He’s not in the bathroom, and he wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital in that gown…

Hero gasped, dread crowding every sense of his being. He ran toward a nurse, frantically asking for directions. She brushed off his crazed behavior as grief, pointing out where to go. Moving past her, he continued to run as fast as he could.

Everything hurt. Every breath he took burned. All he could do was follow the path of flowers guiding him.

…and finally, he reached his destination.

Hero pushed through the hospital roof’s door and stumbled out into the open. He looked up across from himself.

“S–Sunny?”

Situated a bit away from some broken railing was Sunny, his black hair and hospital gown flowing in the wind. Hero felt like his mind was shutting down, and that this all was just another horrible nightmare.

Unfortunately…that wasn’t the case.

Sunny turned to him, one eye widening in surprise. Tear tracks were stained onto his cheeks, and blood trickled from where he had ripped out his I.V. Hero moved to step forward and saw Sunny back up in response. Panicked, Hero stopped, holding out his hands in a disarming motion, as though calming a scared animal.

“Hey…it’s…it’s me…” Hero tried to smile, eyes jittering. He felt like he was going crazy. His heart was beating out of his chest. “Sunny, you should…you should go back down and rest.” Hero’s voice shook, too unsteady to be comforting in any way.

Sunny stared at him, lips in a wobbly frown. Before long, Hero could hear quiet sobbing–it was heartbreaking. Sunny shook his head. “You…loved Mari…and I _killed_ her.”

Hero almost choked. How was he supposed to respond to that? Sunny didn’t even know Hero knew the truth–was this his way of atoning? “Sunny I–”

“I–I–” Sunny gasped for air, vocal cords straining from years of no use. Hero tried to secretly take a step forward, but Sunny took an even larger step back in response. Flowers whipped around Sunny like a tornado, and Hero noticed with despair that Sunny was barely a few steps away from the edge.

“Sunny please just–”

“ _N–No!_ ” Sunny’s voice broke, and he wept miserably. “I–I _loved_ her! I loved her…and _I killed her!_ ” Sunny took another step back, the wind picking up as if to emphasize his emotional state. Sunny wiped at his good eye, the other clenching his gown tightly.

Hero was devastated.

What…what the hell should he do?

Facing that despair…that guilt…it was all beyond what Hero could ever possibly comprehend. If it was himself…would he even have lasted four years? These past three days were Sunny’s last attempt to try to live. But…but after fighting Basil…knowing he has to leave everyone behind…thinking that if anyone knew the truth, he would be abandoned…

“Sunny… _please…_ ” Tears rolled down Hero’s cheeks. He bit his lip enough to break it again. “Please just… _come here…_ ” Hero wanted to run forward, to grab Sunny and pull him far, far away from that edge–to never leave him alone with those horrible thoughts ever again. But, Hero wouldn’t make it in time. So he could only stand helplessly, praying and begging with all of his being that Sunny wouldn’t give up.

Sunny looked forward, and Hero so badly wanted to hug him close and comfort him. That expression was too much to bear.

“People…” Sunny hunched over as he coughed, hiccupping as he struggled to get his words out. Sunny slowly straightened back up, swaying a bit in weakness. Hero’s heart stopped every time Sunny’s feet moved because each movement could be his last. The flowers danced around Sunny’s feet almost mockingly.

And suddenly…Sunny smiled. Hero felt his stomach drop. Sunny smiled so brightly, his eye crinkling. “People like me…don’t deserve to live.” His voice was so quiet, so weak, but even so, he kept going. “I…”

Sunny took a large step backward. Hero lost his breath, his whole body going cold.

“ _I should just die_.”

“SUNNY!” Hero screeched, and it surprised Sunny just enough to make him pause in his final step. “Sunny–Sunny _please_! Basil told us the truth and–and–if you want me to forgive you then–” Hero tried to steady his voice. “Step away from that edge!”

Sunny stared at him with an expression of shock, then distrust. He shook his head, disbelieving in Hero’s words.

“No…No Sunny please…I really…” Hero saw some of the flowers falling off the edge, “I…I actually feel relieved…you know? Because…because I always blamed myself for what happened. So...I'm not angry. But...but if you do this…I will _never_ forgive you. So please… _please_ …come back to me.” Hero opened his arms, smiling desperately.

The distrust on Sunny’s face was forming into hesitance. Hero’s heart beat faster, and hope filled his chest.

“You know…M–Mari…Mari wouldn’t want you to do this…she would just want you to be happy, right? Remember when you fell into the lake that one time and she jumped in before anyone could react? When she pulled you out of the water, she just hugged you, crying her eyes out. Nobody had ever seen her so upset.” Light was returning to Sunny’s gaze with every word Hero spoke. Hero took a tiny step forward.

“I remember how much Mari would brag about her younger brother, always saying you were the cutest and most talented boy she knew. I was even a little jealous with how much she talked about you.” Hero chuckled, seeing Sunny's lips rise into a tiny smile. “She told me she learned how to make cookies just so she could see you smile and compliment her. She always took care of you, and I…” Hero bit his lip, “I promised Mari if…if anything were to happen…that I would take care of you for her.”

Hero took another step forward, watching Sunny carefully. “I…I broke my promise. I left you, and everyone else to suffer alone because...because I was selfish. It was easier to pretend she never existed at all because I couldn’t imagine a life without her. I pushed every emotion away to the back of my mind, along with the memories I once cherished. But…during these past few days, hanging out with everyone again, and seeing _you_ again…I realized that as long as her memory is alive, _she_ will be.”

Hero got even closer, almost an arm’s length away. Sunny’s eye was hazy, completely concentrated on Hero’s words. “You need to live, Sunny. You have memories of her that nobody else does. If you…if you do this…that Mari you love with disappear with you.” Hero just needed to take one more step.

One more step and Sunny would be safe again.

“Sunny, I know that everyone will forgive you. It…it could take time, and it might be uncomfortable, but we…we all promised to be there for each other. Aubrey and Kel need you. Basil needs you. _I_ need you.” Hero reached out his hand, looking at Sunny’s now fully clear gaze. “Please, Sunny.”

Sunny looked at Hero’s hand, eye alight with some type of hope. Hero remained completely still, keeping out that steady hand. Sunny slowly raised his hand, beginning to reach forward when–

The light in his eye disappeared.

“I’m…moving.” Hero froze. Sunny similarly didn’t move, hand still slightly outreached. “So…” Sunny smiled, “…you’re lying.” Hero felt a cold chill. “I…I’ll be alone…” Hero’s outstretched hand began to shake. Sunny wasn’t thinking straight. The flowers were fluttering all around him.

“Sunny, that’s not–” Hero’s words caught in his throat as the world seemed to move in slow motion.

Sunny had taken a large step back.

Hero reached forward, managing to grab onto Sunny’s wrist. Hero then pulled him while falling backward, bringing them both away from the edge. Hero felt onto his back, hard, feeling the wrist he was holding pop. Sunny was sobbing, falling on top of Hero after being pulled. Sunny began struggling to break free, but Hero kept an iron grip. After catching his breath from the fall, Hero felt wind brushing at his feet and realized his ankles were over the edge.

Hero quickly scrambled away, gathering a squirming Sunny into his arms as he did so. Hero held Sunny close to himself, squeezing him in response to the flailing. Sunny cried and cried, landing a few weak kicks and scratches on Hero’s neck. Hero merely hugged Sunny tightly in response, using a hand to hold Sunny’s head to his chest, and using an arm to wrap around his torso, preventing Sunny from harming himself. Hero kept Sunny boxed in, making gentle hushing noises to try and calm him down.

After a while, Sunny grew weaker and soon was unable to even try to struggle free. Sunny grabbed onto Hero’s shirt, curling into him and crying softly. Hero began gently running his hand through Sunny’s hair, humming softly while the other hiccupped. It wasn’t long before the soft cries turned into slow breathing. Sunny’s hands were still trembling, even in his sleep.

Hero’s mind was blank as he continued to run his hand through Sunny’s hair, still humming a familiar tune. It was as if he was in a trance.

Until the slamming of the roof door resounded.

“Hero!” Kel shouted, but Hero didn’t even turn around. His gaze was focused on the softly breathing Sunny in his arms. Mari was right...he _was_ cute. Sunny’s nose twitched in his sleep, briefly rubbing his head on Hero’s shirt as if to get more comfortable. Hero added that to the list of cat–like behaviors Sunny had.

“I heard from the nurse that you came up here! What’s going on? Are you okay?” Kel spoke again and finally reached where Hero was. Two other sets of footsteps followed.

“I’m going to get in trouble for bringing you up here, Basil.” Aubrey huffed.

“I only have a few bruises. I'm worried about Hero…”

Kel was the first to notice Sunny. He looked around and noticed the broken railing. “Oh… _Sunny…_ ” Kel’s voice wobbled. Soon, Hero could see Aubrey and Basil too. It was silent as they both processed what Sunny being here meant.

“Sunny, you…!” Aubrey’s eyes were teary as she flared up, looking ready to yell at Sunny, but stopping when seeing Hero’s glare. Aubrey pursed her lips.

“We shouldn’t wake him up.” Hero’s voice was hoarse, a soft smile on his lips. His hand was still moving through Sunny’s hair gently.

A thud was heard from the side. Basil had fallen to the ground, eyes haunted. He covered his mouth, tears once more pouring from his eyes. Kel was just as distressed, but as always, tried to be positive.

“It’s…it’s okay now, right? He changed his mind once you talked to him, right?” Kel’s smile was shaky, eyes watering. Hero didn’t answer. “Hero?” Kel’s smile wavered.

Hero looked down. “No…I _almost_ did, I think…” Hero frowned. “But, he remembered he had to move and…and thought I was lying about forgiving him…” Hero held Sunny a bit tighter. “I was lucky I was close enough to…to grab him. His…his wrist might need some treatment.”

Basil cracked. “You’re lying. You have to be. Sunny wouldn’t do that. Sunny wouldn’t leave us behind like that.”

“Basil–” Aubrey looked at him, reaching down to pull him up from the ground.

“It’s…it’s just a joke…right? This is…this is to get back at me for what I did…” Basil laughed brokenly, “and…and…you got me! So you can…you can stop…pretending…” Basil trailed off, weeping as Aubrey kept him in a strong side hug.

“So that means…” Kel looked at Sunny fixedly, lips quivering. “Is he…is he going to be okay? We can’t help him if he’s moving. If…if that’s the reason...then…” A tinge of hopelessness entered Kel’s eyes for probably the first time. Hero hated that. 

“We can call his mom.” Hero said firmly. “Maybe…maybe Sunny can stay with us for a while–just so we can watch over him. His mom probably won’t care.” The last sentence had a bit of bitterness to it, but it was true. After all, she hadn’t even come to the hospital to check on her son.

“O–Okay.” Kel nodded. “We can…we can hang out all summer and…work everything out.” Kel managed a weak grin.

“That’s probably for the best,” Aubrey added. “I doubt his mom would protest.” Aubrey’s eyes flickered with resentment, probably thinking of her own mother.

“He’s…he’s not going to move?” Basil’s timid voice piped up. It had a sort of mania to it. “That’s…that’s good…that’s really good…I need to…make everything up to him.” Basil stared at Sunny, lips pulling into a hopeful smile.

After a few moments, Hero finally began to stand, being exceptionally careful to not wake Sunny. While cradling him close, Sunny moved a bit, wiggling into a more comfortable position and sighing softly.

“Seriously…he’s like a cat.” Aubrey bluntly said, a helpless smile on her face. Kel gave a weak chuckle.

“He’s always had some cat–like habits. I guess that’s still the same.” Basil said, giggling. The thought “ _at least something is still the same”_ was left unsaid, but everyone was similarly relieved.

Nodding in agreement to their observations, Hero walked back inside. As they walked back to the correct ward, Hero could gather that Aubrey was whispering something to Basil. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hear any words clearly. “Hey, what’re you whispering about? I wanna know!” Kel said.

“Buzz off.” Aubrey nudged his shoulder, rolling her eyes.

For the rest of the walk, the two of them bickered. Hero was thankful they were trying to remain like normal, even if the atmosphere was off.

They made it back to Sunny’s room without any nurses noticing. It was better not to reveal what Sunny had tried to do, lest they put him on lockdown. Hero didn’t want to be separated.

Hero brought Sunny over to the bed and almost moved to brush away the flowers, before realizing what he was doing and just put Sunny down on top of them. Hero pulled the blanket up and gently tucked Sunny in, brushing the hair from his forehead before turning to look at every one.

“Alright, I’m going to call his mom. You guys should bring Basil back to his room before the nurses get mad.” Hero pulled out his phone.

“But–!” Basil opened his mouth to protest but was stopped by Kel putting a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s right, Basil. You still need some rest. We can come back later.” Basil nodded dejectedly, casting one last emotion-filled look at Sunny before being led out by Kel. Aubrey went to follow them, but before she did, she turned to Hero.

“Hey…” Aubrey frowned, eyes reflecting an emotion Hero couldn’t pinpoint. “Hero, I know right now we’re focusing on Sunny, but…are you…are you okay? You just…had to pull him away from–” She cut herself off.

Hero didn’t know what expression to make. He didn’t know what to say, either. He’s already discovered that pushing everything to the back of his mind doesn’t work, and so he won’t. But right now, he himself didn’t completely understand what he was feeling.

“I–I don’t know.” Hero said honestly. “But, I…I will be eventually.” Hero tried to give his usual charming smile, but it just seemed to make Aubrey more upset.

“Hero…about Sunny–”

“Aubrey! Are you coming?” Kel called from outside, interrupting. Aubrey ran a hand through her hair, before sighing, shaking her head.

“Yeah, I’m coming.” She replied loudly. Aubrey gave Hero one last long look, before turning around and leaving the room.

Hero stood in silence, before sitting in the chair beside Sunny’s bed. Hero reached out a hand and started running his hand through Sunny’s hair again. At this point, it was probably to soothe himself. Maybe to remind himself that the horrific nightmare that almost happened didn’t come to fruition.

Hero held his phone with his other hand and glanced down at it. He frowned deeply, not knowing of the fury welling up in his own eyes. He dialed the number and continued to pet Sunny, listening to the dull ringing.

“Hello?” And she finally picked up.

“Hey! This is Hero speaking…”

Hero’s voice contrasted fully with his expression.

But he needed to be nice. He needed her to agree. Sunny couldn’t move right now. Hero would not allow it. That promise he made to Mari all those years ago would finally be fulfilled. Especially...especially now that he knew she was watching over them. _Mari_ was back, but...but wouldn't stay if Sunny wasn't okay. Those flowers were proof she was there, even if he couldn't see her face. 

Sunny needed Hero to protect him from everyone, and from himself.

After all of these years, Hero was finally doing something right. 

...

Hero would protect Sunny, just like Mari wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me when I was making sunny repeat omori's lines: 😏


	5. Success and Setbacks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh...chapter ended up longer than i intended. oh well.
> 
> enjoy~~~~~

_“I’m…moving.” Hero froze. Sunny similarly didn’t move, hand still slightly outreached. “So…” Sunny smiled, “…you’re lying.” Hero felt a cold chill. “I…I’ll be alone…” Hero’s outstretched hand began to shake. Sunny wasn’t thinking straight. The flowers were fluttering all around him._

_“Sunny, that’s not–” Hero’s words caught in his throat as the world seemed to move in slow motion._

_Sunny had taken a large step back._

_Hero reached forward to grab onto Sunny’s wrist, but his hand held onto nothing. Sunny freely fell back, and Hero could only stupidly stand, watching as he fell._

_Sunny, instead of appearing peaceful, had an expression of fear as if he expected Hero to catch him. Sunny cried out, reaching out as if Hero could still save him._

_“SUNNY!” Hero dropped to his knees, but the boy was already out of his sight._

_A sob tore out of his throat, despair overwhelming him to the point of insanity. He quickly gathered the flowers that didn’t fall over the edge and thought that maybe if he put them together, he could bring Sunny back again._

_But instead, when he put the flowers together, what formed wasn’t the Sunny he knew. Instead, a mangled body that had hit the ground below lay limply in his arms. Hero held onto the body while tremors crawled up his spine, fear almost preventing him from breathing. Hero opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. He could only helplessly stare down at Sunny’s unmoving form._

_“It’s all your fault.”_

_Hero looked up and saw Mari staring down at him with closed eyes._

_“You broke your promise, Hero.”_

_He panicked. “N–No! No, I didn’t! He’s…he’s going to be okay!” Hero went to stand up, to rush and get Sunny treatment, but he was frozen in place. Sunny’s body, which was cradled in his arms, was a gruesome reminder of what had just taken place._

_“You promised me, Hero,” Mari looked so sad, so disappointed. Tears fell through her lashes. “I trusted you…I loved you…” The more she spoke, the more Hero felt that his world was collapsing. “But now everything’s ruined.”_

_“I–I–” Hero looked down at Sunny, but saw that the body was becoming transparent. Hero thought if he held on tightly, then maybe Sunny wouldn’t disappear–but he could do nothing but watch as Sunny dissipated into flowers._

_“Since it’s like this, I don’t want to be around you ever again.” Mari waved her hand, and the flowers in Hero’s lap faded out of existence. “And neither will Sunny. You don’t deserve us. You don’t deserve anything.”_

_Hero tried to move forward, to grab onto her and beg for forgiveness, but it was as if gravity was pulling him down, making him unable to reach out._

_“I hate you.”_

_Hero’s heart dropped, shattering into a million pieces. He was shocked to the point of having no expression at all–letting out a pathetic whimper. “M–Mari…please…” Hero finally managed to lift his arms. “Please don’t leave me…please…” She stepped back before he could reach her._

_Mari looked down at him, mouth curled into a hateful frown. She walked away from him before going to the edge. Before Hero could say a word, she had already stepped off of the roof, just like Sunny did._

_Hero stared blankly. He expected the flowers to come back, to cloud his vision like before–but there were none. Hero gasped for air, searching around himself for any sign of either of them. “Mari? Sunny? Please…I know…I know you wouldn’t leave me…”_

_But it was silent._

_There were no flowers._

_And nobody was around._

_Hero was all alone._

_“Ha…” Hero let out a harsh laugh, disbelieving. Soon, the reality set in, and the laughter turned into sobbing. The world around him distorted, and with rationality having left his mind, his body got up and began walking toward the edge._

_It was a long way down…_

_Hero jumped._

Hero woke up with a loud gasp, covering his mouth to prevent any audible sounds. Without realizing it, he had already begun crying. Hero moved to get out of bed, just to quickly check that everything was okay–

“Hero?” Hero froze in place, hearing his brother's sleepy voice. Maybe if he stayed still, Kel would go back to sleep. “Did you have a nightmare?” Hero grit his teeth.

“J–Just have to…pee…”

“Bro…you went directly to Sunny,” Kel spoke quietly as to not wake said person. Hero looked up, directly making eye contact with Kel. His brother looked genuinely worried. Hero felt his hands shaking, and decided easing his own anxiety was a priority.

Hero quickly walked to Sunny’s bed in the middle of the room, crouching down and placing a hand on Sunny’s forehead, brushing away the hair. After hearing soft breathing, Hero felt overwhelming relief. It’s fine. Hero didn’t fail. Though the flowers weren’t as visible in the dark, he could as least see that they were still resting around Sunny.

“Hey…” Hero looked up and saw Kel sitting up. “I…I had a nightmare…” Kel rubbed his arm. Well, that explained why Kel was awake. Usually, nothing could wake him up once he was in a deep sleep. “Um…can you…sit with me for a little bit?”

Hero looked down at Sunny once more, then went over to Kel’s side of the room. He sat down beside his brother on the bed, listening to Kel let out a breath of relief. “Thanks, man. I’m not used to getting nightmares…I don’t think I’ve had one since I was like…seven.” Kel rubbed the back of his head, and Hero could imagine the look of embarrassment on his face.

“I…I also had a nightmare.” Hero admitted, slumping over. It’s the first night Sunny was out of the hospital, so Hero meant to finally get a good night’s sleep. He had been spending all of his time watching over Sunny and making sure he didn’t…didn’t try to hurt himself again. Fortunately, Sunny had just obediently laid in bed until he was discharged.

Unfortunately…it seemed like Sunny had withdrawn even further into himself. He didn’t express himself at all–as if he truly experienced no emotions. His eye always stared right through everything, and it felt like Sunny wasn’t truly there.

The doctor’s, not knowing of the _event_ , merely associated it with the trauma from the fight and the damage to his right eye, saying after a few days he should start returning to himself. They recommended keeping close watch of Sunny, as it was unlikely Sunny would be able to properly take care of himself.

It’s…probably why his parents were willing to take Sunny in. When Hero called Sunny’s mom, he had gotten permission after explaining everything that'd happened. Sunny’s mom was…strangely calm, and seemed to think that being around her would only make Sunny feel worse. Hero felt anger at the time because of her detached attitude but pushed it down. After that, Hero talked to his own parents, saying Sunny wanted to stay at their house for the summer. They were a bit confused, but when they saw Sunny, quickly realized something was wrong and agreed.

Everything worked out…in a way. They grabbed Sunny’s bed–and some other necessities–from the movers and brought them to Hero and Kel’s room, arranging Sunny's space in the middle. Sunny went straight to bed when he got home since it was pretty late when they finally left the hospital.

So, Hero went to sleep easy, thinking he would be fine since he got everything situated. But…

“I think…I haven’t really processed what happened.” Hero gripped his striped pants, “I thought I would be okay once Sunny was out of the hospital, but…” Hero scratched the back of his head, sighing. “I keep thinking the moment I leave his side he’s just going to…to…” Hero bit his lip, the remaining sorrow and fear from his nightmare leaking into his voice.

“I don’t think that feeling is going to go away for a while.” Kel scoots closer to Hero until their legs touched, providing some grounding and comfort. “Plus, Sunny isn’t really…like himself.” Kel’s voice wavered. “My…my nightmare was about him.”

“What happened? You can tell me if you feel comfortable sharing. It…it might help.” Hero turned to Kel, voice soft.

“Well…it was about him moving away. It wasn’t a nightmare at first, just…a dream about him leaving town. Everyone gave a big goodbye, and Sunny looked happy. But…but then…I called him.” Kel looked down at his hands. “It just rang, and rang…and then I was in the top corner Sunny’s room, looking down and seeing Sunny on his bed, not moving…and the phone just kept ringing and ringing…”

Hero pulled his brother’s head to his shoulder, and Kel relaxed, leaning on him but refusing to cry. “It’s stupid…” Kel said, voice cracking.

“It’s not stupid.” Hero frowned. They both stayed in silence, leaning on each other.

“What…what about you?” Kel eventually spoke up, and Hero stiffened.

“Well,” He bit his lip. “It was…I…” Hero sighed. “I didn’t…I didn’t catch him.” There wasn’t further explanation needed. Suddenly, Kel brought Hero into a bear hug, patting his back. Hero’s expression softened, unable to smile, but still thankful.

After separating, Hero subconsciously turned to check up on Sunny. It was a feeling of if he didn’t check on him at least every few minutes, then he would lose Sunny forever–and in turn, lose those flowers–lose _Mari._

“When do you think Sunny’s going to come back?” Kel was the most caught off guard by Sunny’s behavior, not expecting to be completely ignored by his friend when trying to talk to him.

“I don’t know. We just…should try to be as normal around him as possible. He’s just…retreated much further into his shell than before.” Hero thought putting it that way would be more helpful, instead of explaining the more scary alternative that Sunny had regressed into a husk of his former self to prevent any more stimuli, negative _or_ positive.

“Then…then how about making his favorite breakfast?” Kel fiddled with his pajama shorts. “He really liked those pancakes you used to make. It might help him feel more comfortable or...remember the good times.”

Hero rose a brow. “Are you sure it’s not just _you_ that wants pancakes?” Kel stiffened a bit.

“Well…maybe a little…but I swear Sunny really likes them too!” Kel bumped Hero’s shoulder. “C’mon, it’s a good distraction for you too, and it’ll finally get some real food in Sunny’s stomach!”

“It’s not the healthiest, but…I guess it’s better than nothing.” Hero folded, and Kel gave a quiet cheer. Hero felt like he wanted to smile at Kel, maybe just a little, but he still couldn’t. The afterimages of his terrible nightmare kept popping up randomly. At least talking with Kel offered some relief.

“…Hey, Hero…” Kel said just as Hero stood up to try and go back to bed. Hero looked down at his brother, unable to decipher his expression. “Basil…Basil told the truth, right?” Hero blinked a few times, before frowning.

“Well, I mean, he didn’t sugarcoat the…the _accident_ , or what he did. I figure if he wanted to lie, he would’ve covered it up more...or not tell us at all.” Hero sat back down beside Kel, feeling like something was wrong.

“No, no, not about that...” Kel rubbed his arm, staring at the sleeping Sunny. “His reasoning for…for hurting Sunny. It’s–It’s a bit weird.” Hero agreed it was weird, but just thought it was an indicator of Basil’s unstable state of mind. “He said he saw Mari when he looked at Sunny’s right eye, but…but still! If that's the case then why...why would he do something so extreme?” Kel folded his arms, hunched over a bit.

“Well,” Hero put a hand on Kel’s shoulder, “I don’t think Basil was…feeling okay. He said he saw _something,_ a _thing._ I think he might have…been seeing things. It probably overlapped with Sunny and Basil might have thought…Sunny was being hurt by it.”

“But…” Kel trailed off, frowning. Hero understood why Kel was so confused, since Kel had never experienced such a compromised state of mind, or seen one. Well…he hasn't seen a _violent_ one. “It won’t happen again, right?”

“Of course not. Basil was really upset about it, remember?” Hero said. To be honest, “ _upset_ ” was an understatement. That’s the only reason Hero wasn’t angrier about it. He still _was_ mad, but…was able to push it down.

“Yeah…you’re right. I just, can’t really imagine how…how either of them feels, really. It’s the same with Aubrey...and even you. I didn’t know how _you_ felt when Mari passed and just thought you would… just _get over it_.” Kel grimaced, “I’m really sorry about that, by the way…”

“What are you sorry for?” Hero pat Kel’s head, “you did nothing wrong. You did your best to help and didn’t mind me being a useless brother. You didn’t even complain about mom and dad paying so much attention to me and kind of…ignoring you in the process.” Hero bit his lip, guilt and a speck of resentment swirling in his chest. It’s the first time he’s felt so unsatisfied with his parents. So, he pushed the anger down.

“Huh?” Kel actually looked bewildered. “What are you talking about? Of course they would pay more attention to you. You were struggling a lot more than I was– _naturally,_ considering how much you loved Mari. So…so you weren’t being useless, Hero. You were…you were grieving.”

Hero’s eyes widened, then he ruffled Kel’s hair. “When did you get all mature? Huh?” Hero teased, and Kel swatted at Hero, whining about his hair despite him already having a bedhead.

They once again fell into a comfortable silence. It was…nice. Hero was happy to be connecting with his brother again, without the barrier that Hero himself created.

“We should…get to bed.” Hero said after seeing Kel yawn.

“Alright, but…promise you’re making pancakes?” Kel grinned widely. Hero gave an exasperated sigh.

“Yeah, yeah. I promise.” Kel quietly cheered again and then promptly went under his covers. Hero walked back to his own bed, but not without stopping by Sunny. Hero took one last long look at him and then went to lay down.

After getting comfortable, Hero felt something was off.

…oh.

Kel wasn’t snoring yet.

…

Hero didn’t want to think about what that meant.

****

“Yo! Hero! Prepare two of your tastiest plates!” Hero jumped when Kel used yelling to announce his presence. He turned around and gave a withering look, and Kel looked to the side sheepishly. Looks like Kel tried to put his hair up in a ponytail–it mostly worked, but some strands escaped. Hero looked down to Kel’s side and saw Sunny peeking out from behind him, blinking slowly. Hero’s mouth twitched.

Hero dusted his hands off on his apron– _his mom gave him the pink heart-shaped one out of revenge for not spending more time with her_ –and grabbed two plates loaded with pancakes. “A serving of Hero’s tastiest pancakes, coming right up!”

After setting their plates next to each other on the dining room table, Hero went back to grab his own plate and put away the obnoxious apron. He decided to sit across from Kel and Sunny.

When he sat down, Kel rose a brow. “Oh? Where’s your pretty apron?”

“I’ll never cook for you again.”

“What apron!? I’ve never seen Hero wear an embarrassing apron in my life!” Kel laughed nervously, before shoving almost a whole pancake into his mouth. Hero grimaced. How did Kel even _do_ that?

Hero went to eat his own pancakes but noticed that there was no movement beside Kel. Sunny was staring down blankly at his plate. “Sunny…you okay?” Hero knew he wouldn’t get a response, but a part of him really hoped he would.

Surprisingly, Sunny looked directly at Hero, tilting his head.

“You…you should eat. You haven’t eaten in…” Hero grimaced. He didn’t know when Sunny last ate real food.

Sunny slowly turned to his plate and picked up his fork, stabbing it into one of the pancakes and lifting the whole thing to his mouth. Hero’s mouth twitched when Sunny tried to take a big bite like Kel, but only managed to bite off a little piece.

“That’s the spirit!” Kel cheered when he saw Sunny mimic him. Hero sighed, a tiny smile of amusement rising. Kel continued to shove down his breakfast while occasionally looking at Sunny and smiling.

Hero felt…warm. Although he couldn’t taste the pancakes while he ate them, it didn’t matter. He was happy that the two in front of him enjoyed it.

“Wow, you almost ate as much as me!” Kel looked down at his empty plate, then at Sunny’s, which only had one pancake left. “Can I eat it since you’re full?” Hero was about to scold Kel for taking other’s food but realized that wasn’t the intention. This was Kel trying to communicate with Sunny.

When Sunny didn’t look up from his plate for a while, Kel’s face started to drop. Then, suddenly, Sunny stabbed his remaining pancake and brought it over to Kel’s plate....but the pancake was stuck on the fork. It was silent. Sunny’s hand holding the fork hovered over Kel’s plate, waiting for the pancake to fall.

Kel covered his mouth, turning away from Sunny and shaking a bit. No matter how hard he tried, though, Kel couldn’t fully mask his laughter. Sunny seemed to grow impatient and started shaking the fork, looking strangely satisfied when the pancake finally hit the plate. Kel turned around, only to see Sunny’s pleased expression and pursing his lips again.

“T–Thanks Sunny!” Kel coughed, covering up his laughter. Sunny turned to his own empty plate and went back to staring blankly. Hero was relieved that Sunny wasn’t as withdrawn as he thought. If he was communicating and interacting with people, then there was hope.

After everyone finished eating, Hero cleaned the dishes. Kel and Sunny stayed at the dining table. “By the way, where’s mom, dad, and Sally?”

“Oh, they went to the park.” Hero said, finished cleaning and turning around. Kel stood up, and Sunny followed.

“Let’s watch some T.V.” Kel went to the living room and Sunny followed close behind him. Hero followed them. Kel sat to the right and Sunny was in the middle. Hero sat next to Sunny and watched Kel fiddle with the remote. The T.V turned on to some random cartoon.

It was relaxing. Kel would occasionally talk about random things, somehow managing to have a never–ending amount of fun facts. Hero would sometimes pipe in, but mostly just listened to Kel ramble.

After a while, there was a knock on the door. Kel jumped up, “They’re here!” Hero rose a brow, looking over his shoulder at the door and watching Kel open it.

“Sup’.” Aubrey walked in, her nose twitching. “Did Hero cook or something?” Aubrey looked up and made eye contact with Hero, jumping a bit. She then pretended she didn’t accidentally get jump–scared and pursed her lips.

“I–It smells good!” Basil followed in behind Aubrey. Most of his bruises had gone away, but his left eye was still a bit dark and swollen. Besides his usual type of outfit, Basil was also wearing a small yellow backpack.

“Yup! Hero’s the best! Me and Sunny ate a lot!” Kel proudly lifted his head a bit, “bet you wish you were me!”

“I’d rather die.” Aubrey rolled her eyes, playfully punching his shoulder. Kel reacted dramatically, turning to look at Basil.

“Oh! How sad. She’s just jealous because she could never be as great as me.” Kel put a hand to his forehead, sighing. “Aubrey, I hope you live a full life despite being so jealous!”

Aubrey stared directly at him. Kel looked back, before running to hide behind Basil. It completely failed, considering Kel was much taller than the blond.

“Basil! Protect me! She’s crazy!” Kel saw Aubrey stomp toward him with a blank expression, and stayed behind Basil. When Aubrey moved to get him from the left, Kel moved to the right. Soon, the two were circling around Basil, who just stood in the middle with an anxious expression.

“You guys are hopeless.” Hero sighed, looking down to check on Sunny. He only then noticed that Sunny was peeking over the couch, resting his hands and head on the cushion. Sunny stared at the three, eyes following Kel and Aubrey’s chase. Here’s lip twitched, and just like Kel, he looked away to suppress a laugh.

Basil must have felt a gaze on him, and suddenly turned. He made eye contact with Sunny and just kind of stared. Sunny blinked in response.

In the hospital, Basil had managed to visit Sunny, but when he was ignored, basically lost it. Hero had to calmly explain that Sunny wasn’t _ignoring_ him, he was just unable to properly interact with people and should get better with time. Basil was convinced after a while but was still upset.

Looks like now that Sunny’s making eye contact, Basil was a lot happier. “Sunny!” Basil pushed past Kel, who wailed in betrayal at Basil leaving him to die. Aubrey took the chance to chase Kel freely around the room.

Basil looked down at Sunny, leaning over and smiling. It ended up nervous just because of Basil’s demeanor. “H–How are you feeling? Um, you don’t have to answer that. How…how was breakfast? I’m jealous you got Hero’s food, but the cereal I had was also pretty good.” Basil practically said it all in one breath.

Sunny reached out a hand toward Basil’s face. Basil froze. Sunny touched around Basil’s black eye, very slightly tilting his head. Basil’s eyes welled up. “It…it doesn’t hurt anymore. Just looks…kind of ugly.” Basil looked directly at Sunny’s eye patch, gaze flashing with guilt.

Sunny poked around the rest of his face, before pointing to Basil’s ear. Basil furrowed his brows, still smiling. After getting no answer to his unasked question, Sunny pointed again. Basil’s eyes suddenly widened. “Oh, my flower? I misplaced the clip. It’s probably too childish for me now anyways…”

For the first time since waking up after the incident, Sunny made an expression. Hero was way too excited, considering it was merely a barely perceptible frown. But, that flash of emotion was enough to prove that Sunny was already starting to come back. Basil's eyes widened once he gathered why Sunny frowned.

“O–Oh! Never mind, then. I’ll…I’ll keep wearing it.” Basil’s cheeks flushed with happiness. Thankfully the group was used to reading Sunny even if he was quieter than he was in the past, it made it so interacting was not an issue.

Besides that…

“Kel!” Aubrey shouted, finally grabbing onto Kel's ear and pulling him down to her height. Kel waved his arms, pleading for forgiveness. Hero sighed, amused by their antics. Looks like their habit of butting heads will never change.

After knocking Kel around a bit, Aubrey walked over to the couch. Once she saw how Sunny was perched on the couch and blankly staring at a red Basil, she grinned. “Yo, Basil, you good? Your sweating.”

Basil’s expression was indeed a mess, anxiety and fluster meshing into a strange smile. “Haha, of course!” But as Sunny continued to stare, Basil got more and more nervous and soon was practically vibrating in place. “U–Um! I have to! Go to the bathroom!” And then he dead sprinted out of the room, almost tripping over his own feet.

After a long pause, Aubrey burst out laughing, doubling over. “Great job, Sunny!” She gave him a thumbs up once he turned to her. Kel walked back to the couch as she continued to laugh, rubbing his ear with a grimace.

“Did you have to pinch me so hard?” Kel said, pouting. After calming down from her laughing fit, she shrugged at Kel’s question.

“Maybe you should watch what you say,” Aubrey huffed. Kel stuck out his tongue in response. Without warning, Aubrey started laughing again, and before Hero could question why, he noticed in his peripheral that Sunny was pulling at Kel’s ear.

“S–Sunny, hey,” Kel wasn’t in pain, probably because Sunny wouldn’t be able to have enough strength to cause pain, but he still looked confused. “Why are you pulling on my ear? Are you teaming up with Aubrey to bully me? How rude. How mean. I’m so sad.” Kel wiped away a fake tear.

“You deserve it!” Aubrey pointed in delight.

Hero watched their interactions with a strange feeling in his heart. Although it was great to see them getting along, it was kind of weird how quickly Aubrey and Kel were back to their old selves. Sure, they acted like that when they made up a few days ago, but…they weren’t comfortable to this extent. Are they…doing this for Sunny?

“I’m going to quickly check up on Basil.” Hero felt a bit anxious leaving Sunny’s side, but since they were in the house and Kel and Aubrey were here, there was no way for Sunny to hurt himself.

“Alright!” Kel saluted him, almost whacking Sunny in the face as he did so. Hero’s mouth twitched.

“I’ll watch 'em. Go ahead, it’s been a bit long for a bathroom break.” Aubrey nodded at Hero, waving him off. Well, at least she seemed reliable. Hero glanced at the flowers gently settling on Sunny’s lap and in his hair, and decided everything should be fine.

“Don’t destroy anything.” Hero sighed, and left the room, ignoring Kel’s indignant “ _hey!”._ He walked up the stairs and stared at the bathroom door.

Hero…had a bad feeling.

He knocked on the door. After getting no response, he decided to bite the bullet and just directly opened it.

Inside, Basil was staring at himself in the mirror with the lights out, his backpack open, and on the counter. Basil had been mumbling something but stopped when he noticed Hero in the mirror. “Basil?” Hero frowned. He went to turn on the light but stopped himself. There was enough light coming in from the window to at least see, and Basil might have left them off for a reason.

“O–Oh…it’s…it’s you!” Basil turned to him with a shaky smile, and it honestly gave Hero chills. “I…I was just…” Basil’s gaze flickered to his backpack, before turning back to Hero. “Well…”

“Are you…doing alright?” Hero tentatively took a step forward.

“Y–Yes! Yes! I’m…I’m doing great! Sunny…Sunny was worried about me.” Basil’s expression was just off enough to be completely unsettling. “But I…I don’t…I don’t deserve it…”

“Basil,” Hero felt himself glancing at the backpack. “I know you feel guilty about what you did–”

“You’re angry at me.” Basil interrupted, blue eyes almost eerily glowing. “You…you can’t hide it. I…I see you pushing it down but…but you’re not as good at it as you think you are.” Basil gave a strained chuckle. “I do it too. I push down a lot of things.”

“Basil, I've already learned the hard way that ignoring my feelings is definitely a horrible solution.” Hero said so, but also realized Basil was kind of right. “I’ve been trying to stop, and I’ve been succeeding. For me, I think doing it with _just_ anger won't cause any trouble. It’s better if I’m not angry, anyways.”

“Hero…” Basil was shaking, “You should…you _should_ be angry at me. Maybe…maybe even at Sunny too. I told that horrible truth about everything and…and I expected you to resent us, even if it was only for a little while. Even if Sunny has been struggling, it still doesn’t make sense that you have no anger toward him at all. What’s weirder…you seem to care about Sunny even more than before.”

Hero’s eyes narrowed. “What are you…?”

“Do you see _something_ too?”

Hero’s heart stopped. Flowers hovered at the edges of his vision.

“You do, don’t you?”

Hero wanted to leave the room.

“Then…then maybe a little, you can understand how I feel…” Basil grabbed at his backpack. “I saw that _something_ and just… _had_ to get rid of it. And it’s–it’s gone! It’s not hovering around Sunny anymore! But…Sunny’s still sad…” Basil’s eyes jittered, mouth stretching into something that was supposed to be a smile. “So I…I should at least make it up to him, right?”

Hero furrowed his brows, having a hard time digesting everything at once, especially since Basil kept changing the subject. Flowers guided Hero's gaze to the backpack in Basil’s arms. Basil reached into the bad and pulled out…rusted garden shears. No, that wasn’t rust–

“It’s the least I could do. Sunny probably feels self-conscious about his eye and–and I can help. I just need to be the same! That way, he won’t feel alone!”

“Basil…I don’t think that’s…” Hero choked on his words. The atmosphere was suffocating. It was completely different from when he talked to Sunny that day. With Sunny, he tried to alleviate despair and hopelessness, at least for a few moments just to get close enough to save Sunny. Now, facing Basil, he felt like he couldn’t breathe for a different reason.

“It’s…it’s a good idea, right!?” Basil gripped the shears, the dried blood leftover from before still clearly there. “It’s kind of cute…we’ll be matching!”

This was outside of what he could have ever expected. Basil’s gaze terrified him because inside there was a strange mixture of emotions he could scarcely understand. This was…something he didn’t _want_ to understand.

“Basil…I get you’re trying to…to _make it up_ to Sunny, but…” Hero wracked his brain for a reason that would convince Basil to stop. “Sunny…Sunny would be really sad if you got hurt, wouldn’t he?”

Basil’s smile fell a bit, the hand holding the shears lowering away from his eye. “Oh…I guess…that might be true…”

“You don’t want to do anything that might upset Sunny, right? How would you feel if _you_ got hurt, and Sunny copied it to make you feel better?”

“That’s different!” Basil cut him off, clenching the shears harder. “It’s completely different!”

“How is it different, Basil?”

“Because Sunny is…Sunny is…” Hero watched Basil trail off, eyes becoming distant. Basil starting mumbling inaudibly to himself again.

“Look, right now, Sunny need’s all the support he can get. The more stable the people around him are, the better. He’s been mimicking people since this morning, and even directly interacted with you. If you suddenly lose an eye, won’t it make him feel even more aware of his own injury? Then, he’ll think it’s all _his_ fault that you’re hurt.” Hero practiced calming techniques as he spoke, not sure if he was clearing out fear or anger. Probably a mix of both.

“I guess you’re right…” Basil slowly put the shears back in the backpack and zipped it up. After putting it back on, his eyes watered, followed by a large frown. “I’m sorry…I’m stupid…” Hero sighed in relief, shaking his head.

“It’s fine. I’m just glad I came in here to check on you.” Hero couldn’t imagine how upsetting it would’ve been for everyone if Basil actually gouged his own eye out. Hero shuddered.

“Thanks, Hero.” Basil wiped at his eyes, giving a shaky smile.

“Of course.” Hero nodded, before opening the bathroom door. Basil shuffled out first, and Hero closed the door behind them. “Hopefully they didn’t destroy anything.” Hero said. Basil giggled in response.

As they walked down the stairs, Hero pursed his lips. “I _am_ mad about what you told us, by the way.” Hero said. Basil stopped, looking back at Hero. “But…not at Sunny. He’s already suffered enough, and...you probably have to. I’m angrier at you about Sunny’s eye, at this point.” Hero sighed. “Maybe because it was so long ago, it’s hard to attach new emotions to the event. I think it’s the same for everyone else.”

Basil looked relieved. “Alright. That…makes sense. It was me who misunderstood.” And finally, Basil’s demeanor relaxed to his normal level of nervousness.

“By the way…” Hero suddenly had a thought. “You blacked out the pictures in the photo album…right?” Basil nodded, looking guilty again. “Even though Sunny was the main part of the...the _accident_ , why did you only leave _his_ face unmarked?” Basil froze in place. Hero rose a brow, catching up to the blond's side.

“T–That…well….um…” Basil’s eyes practically spun. “Um…I…” Instead of answering, he ran into the living room. Hero’s eye twitched. That’s…somewhat endearing.

Hero finally walked into the room and was greeted by the really strange sight of Kel doing pushups with Sunny perched on top of his back. Aubrey was giving count, yelling when Kel slacked off.

Basil and Hero looked at each other. Basil quickly opened up his yellow backpack and this time, he brought out a camera. It was his old camera. Basil rushed forward and stood a bit away, before snapping a photo of the scene.

“Oh!” Kel looked over at Basil, then to Hero. “Look! I’m super strong, right?” Hero didn’t know how to respond to that. How did they even get to this point? Hero felt complete emotional whiplash.

“You’re not strong at all! Sunny’s super light, so you at least have to do a hundred pushups to be impressive!” Aubrey huffed.

“A hundred!?” Kel shouted out in dismay, looking to Basil. “Come on, I at least look super cool in the picture, right?” Aubrey took the initiative to check. After pondering about it, she tilted her head to the side.

“I don’t know if you can ever look cool, Kel. Besides, even if you did, I look way cooler. Look at me bossing you around! I look so badass!” Aubrey put an arm around basil. “You know what, Basil, good on you for taking a picture of my good side.” She pats his shoulder, before letting go and looking back at Kel. Sunny remained calmly on top of Kel with his legs crossed, blinking up at Aubrey when she approached.

“Should I even ask how this happened…?” Hero finally spoke up, walking over to the couch and plopping down. 

“Well…Aubrey called me weak, so I said I could do hundreds of pushups no problem. She wanted me to prove it, you know? But, she wasn’t impressed.” While Kel spoke, he continued to occasionally do a pushup, with a very calm Sunny just chilling on his back. “So, I said that I could do pushups even if somebody was sitting on me. Of course, Aubrey wouldn’t do that, so I asked Sunny. Naturally, he agreed.”

Hero didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Just…don’t hurt yourself...?”

“Bro, I have to work out for basketball. I’m not the best on the team for no reason, you know!” Hero would be more inclined to take him seriously if Sunny wasn’t on his back.

“It’s…impressive.” Basil’s voice shook, obviously trying not to laugh. Sunny looked at Basil after hearing him speak. Just like before, Sunny stared blankly at Basil. Said blond blinked rapidly, before finally letting out an actual laugh, instead of his usual giggles.

“Why are you laughing!? I’m impressive! Right, Sunny?” Kel turned his head as much as he could to look at Sunny but was met with a hand pulling at his ear. “Hey! Hey!” Kel wanted to swat at the hand, but if he lifted his arm they would both fall over. Queue Aubrey joining Basil in laughing.

“Careful,” Hero sighed.

“Yo, Hero, my best bro, my main man, my most reliable partner, would you please help me out here.” Kel looked at him pleadingly, and Hero rose a brow in return.

“Didn’t you do this to yourself, Kel?”

“Look,” Kel pursed his lips, “I can’t just let Aubrey make fun of my honor–”

“Honor!” Aubrey cackled.

“–because then what kind of man would I be? Anyways, just help Sunny off of my back.” Kel motioned his head to Sunny, who had stopped tugging on Kel’s ear and instead stared at Hero. “Come on, please? Do it for me. Do it for Sunny.” Hero shook his head, but still stood up and walked over.

Sunny stared up at him. Hero wasn’t quite sure how he was supposed to go about this. So, he just…lifted Sunny up by the armpits. Kel collapsed once he was free, and rolled over to the couch. Hero held Sunny up high and an arm’s length away, just kind of staring. Sunny stared back, blinking slowly. 

_Click._

Hero looked to the side and saw Basil holding up the camera, face red. Aubrey’s face was also red, but for a completely different reason. She pointed at Hero and roared with laughter. “You’re holding him like he’s a cat!” Aubrey was practically crying. Soon, Hero could hear Kel rolling on the couch and laughing too.

_Click._

Hero snapped his gaze to Basil. Said blond gave a sheepish grin. “Sorry…it’s just really cute.”

“Basil you _have_ to give me copies of those!” Aubrey looked at the photos with a huge smile. “Oh my god, the second one…Hero’s face…Sunny’s face…oh my god…” Aubrey could barely get the words out, bursting into giggles.

Hero gave a loud sigh, before realizing he was still holding Sunny in the air. Hero turned to Sunny and saw him pouting, waving his arms and slightly kicking his legs. Hero stifled a chuckle, settling Sunny on the ground. He ruffled Sunny’s hair, ignoring the slight glare he got in return for doing so.

“I wanna feel his hair too!” Hero heard Kel speak from right beside him, scaring Hero half to death.

“When’d you get there?” Hero hadn’t heard him get that close.

“I’m a ninja,” Kel said with a dopey smile. Aubrey snorted. “Sunny, your hair looks soft. Let me touch.” Sunny blinked in response but didn’t give any negative indications. Kel cheered, then promptly placed his hand down on Sunny’s head. Kel nodded, satisfied. “I was right. Very soft.”

“Hey, Sunny! Kel’s hands are probably gross! Remember? He doesn’t wash his hands!”

“Aubrey! That was when I was _twelve!_ ”

“Exactly! You were _twelve_ when you never washed your hands!”

“I plead the fifth.”

“Do you even know what that means!?”

“Of course. I heard it on T.V!” Kel looked pretty proud of himself. Aubrey sighed, shaking her head.

“Basil, I can’t believe he’s so stupid.”

“Hey!” Kel crossed his arms, “I’ll have you know I passed all my classes this year!”

Aubrey burst into laughter. “The bare minimum! You did the bare minimum!”

As they continued to bicker, Basil whipped his head back and forth depending on who was talking.

It was nice to have everything feel somewhat normal. Everyone was having fun, and Sunny was even joining in on it too. If things continue like this, Hero doesn’t see how things could go wrong.

…

Hero briefly remembers Basil’s words in the bathroom.

…

Hero shook his head. He's _fine_. He stopped suppressing his emotions, and he didn’t have…have that _something_ Basil and Sunny had. He had _Mari_. It was different. The flowers were pretty and gentle. They were there to _help_ Hero.

…Well…Hero _mostly_ stopped suppressing his emotions. But…pushing down a little bit of anger wouldn’t do any harm. It’s only _one_ emotion–and it’s one Hero’s never had a problem with. So, it would be fine. There wasn’t any reason for Basil to worry.

Hero was sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...but maybe he shouldn't have been.


End file.
